A Second Half-and-Half
by NumberCDLI
Summary: Of which Izuku is the twin sister of Todoroki Shouto and is adopted by Midoriya Inko at birth, and in which Dabi meets a group of people that deviates him from his canonical path. Story adopted from user ICanRememberThis.
1. Prelude 1

**(Insert sound of me deeply sighing in exasperation)**

**So…** **In my infinite stupidity, I have decided to start another fic despite having very, VERY little free time to write in general, and also while barely updating my other fics. Truly, my mind is the pinnacle of human intellect. …My voice was dripping in sarcasm for that last part, in case you couldn't catch it.**

**|| Story adopted from user ICanRememberThis ||  
|| Cover art: arasaki_37 of twitter (status: ****781786591832399872) ||**

_**. . .**_

* * *

_**. . .**_

To be a hero.

That was the dream of every young child. To be able to fight villains, save the citizens of their nation, and to be looked upon with awe and fervor.

Of course, not every child retains that dream of becoming a hero. There are many things in life that could cause the child to stray from their dream. Quite often, the child will grow up and come to the realization that their Quirk is unsuited for hero work, and gives up on their dream and chooses a different career.

Other times, one goes through a series of unfortunate events and ends up becoming the very thing that society fears and shuns. A villain.

And rarely, a child's dream will be shattered when they discover that they will never be able to become a hero, for they were born without a Quirk. After all, Quirks were what reshaped society to what it is today, and those without a Quirk cannot compete with those with a Quirk in most cases.

However, that is a topic that two certain children were blissfully unaware of as they laughed and rough-housed their way across a playground.

A boy and a girl, both at the tender age of four, were playing the common game known as 'Heroes and Villains'. It was a simple game, made by children, meant to be played by children. One child would be given the role of the villain, usually reluctantly, while the other would be playing the role of a hero. As it was a simple game, the rules would be quite simple, and the game was only as fun as the children's imaginations would be.

In this scenario, both children had quite the imaginations, evident by the loud laughter and playful shouts, as they continued to tackle each other and roll around on the ground.

That is, at least, until there was an explosion from the boy's hand as his palm made contact with the girl's ribs, and the girl was violently hurled backward.

_**. . .**_

When his hand exploded, Bakugo Katsuki didn't know what to think. One moment, he and Midoriya Izuki were playing their usual game of 'Heroes and Villains'. Their 'fight' started as Izuki refused to stop her rampage across the city, and Katsuki, as the hero, had to stop her. He was going to win in the end. It was his role, his calling, for heroes never lost. They would always defeat the villain and save the day.

As their 'fight' escalated, a grin rose onto his face as Izuki started to 'weaken' and he started to gain ground. He made absolutely sure that his hand was open and not a fist when he made his 'final attack' on Izuki in order to not hurt his best friend, but he would soon realize that was for naught.

There was a blinding flash, a rush of heat, and a deafening _boom_. His entire body shook and pain lanced up his arm, but that didn't matter to him. To him, at this very moment, the only thing that he was paying attention to was the body of his best friend flying through the air.

For a second, the world seemed to slow down as Katsuki watched Izuki's airborne body. It was almost peaceful, in a way, as her body held no ties to gravity and floated in the air…

…Only to come crashing down back to the earth. Izuki's small body rolled a few meters before stopping in a crumpled heap.

"IZU!" Katsuki screamed and ran over to his friend. A faint trail of smoke could be rising from her midsection and fear crept into Katsuki's chest. He quickly crouched down next to her and rolled her onto her back. "Izu!"

His fear began to grow when there was no response for a second. Just as panic was about to overtake his fear, there was a cough.

"Ah ha ha-ow…" Izuki groaned as her brow furrowed in pain. Her left hand was clutching her ribs tightly. "H-Hey, Kacchan?" Her eyes fluttered open, and Katsuki's eyes met hers. "I think you got your Quirk."

Katsuki blinked as he realized that she wasn't wrong. In his haste to check if Izuki was okay, he had momentarily forgotten that what caused her to go flying backward was his Quirk, and -

"Never mind that, stupid!" Katsuki growled threateningly. Or as threatening a four-year-old child can be, at least. "Your side! How is it?"

Izuki's brow furrowed, almost as if she didn't know what he was talking about. Then there was the spark of realization and she removed her hand from her side, and both of their eyes widened.

"What…?" Katsuki and Izuki gasped at the same time.

Encasing her ribs, at the very spot that Katsuki's Quirk activated, was a thin coating of ice. It didn't take either of them very long to realize that the ice had protected Izuki from being injured.

" …Is…Is that…?"

"My Quirk…" Izuki finished. She gently touched the ice again as if it would shatter if too much pressure was applied. Then a smile slowly began to rise onto her lips. "It's…It's my Quirk! Kacchan! We both got our Quirks!"

Katsuki grinned as he looked back at her eyes and then almost let out a startled yelp. Izuki's eyes, rather, her right eye, was…

"O-Oi…Izu…" He slowly raised an arm and pointed it at the aforementioned organ. "Y-Your eye…"

With a confused look on her face, Izuki began raising her hand. "My eye?" Her hand touched the side of her face before Katsuki could stop it. When she did, he fully expected her to pull her hand back in pain, but her confusion only seemed to grow. "What's wrong with my eye?"

He looked at her as if she suddenly sprouted a second head. In hindsight, the analogy wouldn't be _too_ strange given the nature of Quirks. There was most likely someone out there that had multiple limbs or organs.

"Your eye's on fire!" Katsuki practically shouted.

Izuki frowned at him, clearly not believing him. His pride and word now on the line, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to one of the many slides in the playground. A few of them were made out of metal with a chrome plating, and so its reflective surface would suffice as a makeshift mirror for now.

Once they were next to the metal slide, Katsuki moved Izuki in front of him so that she could see her own reflection. She looked very much the same as she did always: bi-colored hair that was an even split between red and white, right and left respectively, that fell just past her shoulders and heterochromia eyes. Her left eye was the color of steel while her right eye was a solid turquoise.

Said right eye was also the one that had a literal flame over it.

As expected, Izuki suddenly yelped and jumped backward in surprise.

"K-K-Kacchan! M-My eye!" She turned around and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "My eye's on fire! What do I do?! It doesn't burn or hurt or anything, but it's on fire!"

"Oi, relax, you stupid-head!" Katsuki hissed despite the fact that he wasn't relaxed at all. If anything, he was panicking just as much as his friend was. Not that he'd ever show or admit it, of course. "I'm pretty sure it's just your Quirk!"

"B-B-But I already have ice!" Izuki cried, shaking him even harder. From where did the girl find that much strength in her thin arms?

Katsuki quickly reached up and grabbed her arms to help her calm down and also to prevent whiplash. "Maybe you have two Quirks, Izu! Like Mister Zero and Poseidon! Or Memento! Zero was able to control both light and shadows, and Poseidon could control water and the earth! And Memento could create illusions while also making her imagination into reality!"

Izuki seemed to calm down at his words. The tension left her arms and they fell back to her sides. "Y-You're right…" Then her eyes widened again. "K-Kacchan! I have two Quirks!"

"No duh, stupid!" Katsuki barked, causing a few more explosions to inadvertently pop from his hands.

For a moment, it was as if Katsuki also had a second Quirkas well, one related to noise cancellation, for that was how quiet it got. Neither of the two children said anything as they calmed down.

Then they started to laugh. Katsuki didn't know who started to laugh first, but the laughter quickly grew until tears started to form in the corners of their eyes. Tears not of pain or sorrow, but of mirth, joy, relief, and hope. Mirth and joy that they unlocked their Quirks, relief that they actually had a Quirk, and hope because they could now walk the path of becoming a hero.

_**. . .**_

The Midoriya household was a quiet household. At least, that's how it was in Midoriya Inko's opinion.

As it was, Inko currently lived alone with her daughter, Izuki, while her husband traveled across the world for his job. Last she heard, he was in the frigid wastelands of the northern arctic. Apparently, there were rumors of a pot-bellied man that had a wind-based Quirk that would fly around on some sort of giant sled, all the while dressed in bright, red clothing.

…How silly.

That was almost two years ago, and while Inko couldn't blame her husband for often not being home, she still missed him and much preferred it when he was around with her and their daughter.

Speaking of their daughter, it was about time for Izuki to come home. The sun was starting to set and dinner was almost finished, and just as Inko began setting the plates, she heard the front door slam open.

"MOM!"

Izuki's frantic voice violently split the usual calm of the Midoriya household, and Inko's blood ran cold immediately. Izuki was a quiet child, especially given her age, and Inko could count the number of times that she yelled with both hands.

The plate that she was holding slipped between her fingers, shattering the instant it hit the floor, but Inko could not care less. She ran out of the kitchen and towards the front door at a speed that would put those with a speed-based Quirk to shame.

"Izuki!" Midoriya Inko rushed over to her daughter, her eyes scanning every inch of Izuki's body to check for any scrapes or bruises. "What happened?! Are you hurt anywhere?!"

"No!" Izuki rapidly shook her head. "Mom, guess what happened to me and Kacchan just now!"

A wave of relief visibly washed over Inko as she realized that Izuki wasn't hurt. After taking another second to gather herself, she put a smile onto her face. "What is it, Izuki?"

"Kacchan and I have Quirks!" Izuki exclaimed.

Inko froze. It was as if her brain shut down for a second as she repeated Izuki's words in her mind, and when it finally registered, a smile that matched her daughter's appeared on her lips. She knew that it was her daughter's dream to get a Quirk, a dream that was second only to becoming a hero, so today was quite literally a dream come true for her.

"That's fantastic!" Inko beamed as she threw her arms around Izuki. After a tight hug, she pulled back just enough so that they were face to face. "What Quirksdo the two of you have?"

"Well, Kacchan can make a bunch of…bunch of…" Izuki's brow furrowed slightly as she tried to find the right word. Unfortunately, she was only four-years-old, so the number of words she knew was relatively small. "…a bunch of booms from his hand!" She made a fist before quickly spreading her hand open to emphasize her point.

Inko nodded, gathering enough information to figure out that Bakugo Katsuki had an explosive Quirk. "That sounds like it's pretty strong! What about you, honey? What's your Quirk?"

If it was even possible, Izuki's face brightened up even further. "I have two Quirks, mom! Look!"

_'Two __Quirks__?'_ Inko thought to herself, her brow furrowing in confusion. While it was not unheard of, having multiple Quirkswas very rare.

Izuki placed her arms out in front of her. After a second of concentration, flames began to dance on the fingertips of her right hand while her left hand was covered in a fine sheet of frost.

For the second time in a minute, Inko froze. Unlike the first time, however, it wasn't due to the fact that her daughter had a Quirk- correction, _two_ Quirks. Instead, it was due to the fact that she had an _ice_ Quirk.

There was a brief flash of memory in her head: a beautiful and elegant woman with silver hair and grey-colored eyes.

The very same colors of Izuki's hair and eyes on the left side of her face.

"Izuki. Izuki, look at me." Inko's hands gently gripped the girl's shoulders. "The ice part of your Quirk… I need you to make me a promise. Promise me that you will only stick to the fire part of your Quirk, never using the ice part unless it is _absolutely_ necessary."

"M-Mom?" Confusion crept into Izuki's eyes at her sudden change in attitude.

"Promise me," Inko repeated with steel in her voice, and Izuki gave her a hesitant nod. Letting out a sigh of relief, she continued, "I'm sorry, Izuki. I promise that there's a reason for this, and I'll tell you why. Just…not now, okay?"

Izuki nodded again. "Okay, mom."

After another tap on the shoulder, Izuki trudged down the hall and up the stairs, leaving Inko alone in front of the door. She sat there for a few more seconds before standing up and walking back to the kitchen with heavy steps. She grabbed her phone that was sitting on the countertop and dialed a number that she knew by heart, ignoring the shattered plate on the floor for now.

A few rings later, the woman on the other end of the line picked up.

_"Hello?"_

For some reason, Inko's voice got caught on her tongue. She took a second to clear her throat before saying, "H-Hey."

_"Inko? Is that you?"_

She nodded even though it wouldn't be visible over the call. "Mhmm. How are you?"

_"I've been doing well. Just tired for the most part."_

"Well, you certainly sound tired," Inko lightly laughed. "How are the kids?"

_"Doing well in both their studies and their Quirks,"_ her friend replied._ "Well, except for my youngest. He has yet to show any signs of his Quirk. What about… How is Izuki?"_

A smile, one that was more wistful more than anything, rose to her face. "I actually called to talk about her. She just got her Quirk today."

_"…Really?" _she gasped.

"Mhmm." Inko nodded. "She has two Quirks, the first being fire creation, and the second being - " She choked on her own words. " - the second…it's yours, Rei."

Even from over the line, Inko could hear Rei's voice hitch for a moment. _"Is… That's…"_ There was a sniff. _"_…_I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm - " _She trailed off and was quiet for a few seconds as she reigned in her emotions. _"Thank you for telling me, Inko, and thank you again for taking Izuki when I…when I wouldn't have been able to take care of her."_

"It's alright," Inko coaxed. "If anything, I should be the one thanking you for giving Hisashi and I a chance to raise a child of our own." Her hand subconsciously moved to her abdomen. Her fingers traced a line across her stomach where a scar laid hidden underneath her shirt.

There was a weak laugh on the other end of the line._ "Speaking of your husband, are you going to say that Izuki's Quirk is a mutation of her father's? Fire breathing and pyrokinesis aren't too different."_

"That's what I was thinking of doing, but then that means that Izuki won't be able to use your part of the Quirk," Inko sadly said. "I just told her to not use her ice Quirk and… " She sighed. "One entire half of her Quirk, the Quirk that she got from _you_… I can't help but think that I'm betraying you in some sort of way by telling Izuki that."

_"You aren't. You won't be,"_ Rei assured her. _"Inko, please, listen to me. My only wish is for my kids to live well. I already failed -_ " Her voice began to tremble ever so slightly. _ "I want at least one of my children to grow up happy, Inko. If people find out that Izuki is… I'm sorry, but I can't have that. Please, for as long as you can, keep this a secret from everyone."_

Inko took in a deep breath. "…Okay," she reluctantly said. "But Izuki has a sharp mind, something that she got from you, so she'll find out sooner or later that I'm her adoptive mother."

_"Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Rather, _you'll _cross that bridge,"_ Rei replied. _"Inko, I trust you. When you feel like the time is right to tell her, then you tell her."_

"…Alright," Inko finally complied. "But if Izuki starts asking, then I won't have much of a choice. I can only lie to her for so long before she starts figuring it out."

_"I wouldn't have it any other way,"_ Rei said. _"Once again, thank you for telling me about Izuki. I guess I should be expecting Shouto to start showing signs of his Quirk now, shouldn't I? Studies say that twins get their Quirks at roughly the same time."_

"Yes, I think you should," Inko lightly laughed. "Get some rest, okay? Let's meet in person later and hang out? The last time we met was at the hospital four years ago."

_"I'd like that. Until then, Inko."_

"Until then," Inko replied, thumbing her phone screen to end the call. The name 'Todoroki Rei' blinked once on her screen before disappearing, and Inko set her phone back down onto the tabletop.

Despite the promises made at the end of the conversation, fate would not be so willing. For the next time that the two would meet face-to-face would be by a hospital bed.

_**. . .**_

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_**. . .**_

**First MHA fic for me. Let's see how badly I screw this up.**

**Just saying, I'm planning on diverting from canonical events (in case a fem!Izuku with a Quirk that's also Todoroki Shouto's twin sister wasn't enough of a hint). Nothing _too_ drastic (disregarding my snarky comment from the last sentence), but enough so that this story will hopefully feel 'fresh'. I just gotta iron out a few more details on exactly what parts I'm going to change while also keeping it ties to canon so I can spend less effort thinking of original ideas to fill in the gaps between story arcs.**

**Well, ****that's it for now. I'll see the few of you that read up to here in the next chapter…whenever I get to writing and uploading it, that is…  
****I'm thinking of a monthly update schedule, but who knows. Life likes to throw curveballs out of nowhere.**


	2. Prelude 2

**It has occurred to me that I have absolutely no idea how to write the dialogue for children while writing this chapter. After giving it much thought, I have come to the decision to simply remove any "advanced" words from the dialogue.**

**…Pretty sure I failed in that department though…**

_**. . .**_

* * *

_**. . .**_

Midoriya Inko liked cafes. The quiet ones, at least. The ones that had loud individuals as their regulars were the cafes that Inko made absolutely sure to avoid.

So when she first found the cafe named 'Background Noise', she was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a popular cafe nor was it a struggling one. It was somewhere right in the middle with its simple and clean aesthetics, soft piano playing through hidden speakers, and with the majority of its customers being university students with papers and laptops out in front of them.

And while she was not a university student, Inko had a laptop out as well as she scrolled through the web. There was a document out in a different window with a half-finished children's story (one that she should really get to finishing before the deadline), but there was a news article that pulled her attention. As she finished reading the short bit of news, she sadly shook her head.

"How terrible," she muttered.

"What's terrible?"

Inko looked up to see a woman with wild, ash-blonde hair with two cups in her hands.

"Mitsuki," Inko smiled as the woman took a seat across from her. "You're a little late."

"Blame the villain attack that caused traffic," Bakugo Mitsuki scoffed in the same manner that her son would. Sliding one of the drinks across the table, she continued, "Plus, I got us drinks."

She raised a brow, catching the sliding drink. "Villain?"

"Yup. Some dude that could sprout blades from his arms caused a crap-ton of chaos in the shopping district."

"Was his name 'Razorback' by any chance?"

It was Mitsuki's turn to raise an eyebrow. "How'd you know?"

Inko turned her laptop with the news article still on the screen. A few seconds of silence passed as her friend skimmed the page, only taking in the important lines.

"Damn…" Mitsuki said, sliding the laptop back. "I didn't think he'd cause _that_ much damage, let alone leave some five-year-old orphaned from a family of four."

"Reports say that the older brother might still be alive, but the chances of that are practically zero," Inko added. "Running away with one of his blades stuck through a kid's heart like a kebob? I've seen some villains do some terrible things, but that's just inhumane."

The two sat in silence as the sounds of the cafe became its namesake. Fingers rapidly tapped keyboards, pages were turned, coffee beans were ground into powder, and a few, pitiful whimpers of struggling university students could be heard.

"So, your kid." Mitsuki set her drink down onto the table. "She's got two Quirks, huh? That's neat."

"No, not two Quirks," Inko said with a slight shake of her head. "According to the doctor that Izuki and I visited earlier, she has a single Quirk with two parts, fire and ice."

Mitsuki dismissively waved her hand and took another sip of her drink. "Same difference. Two Quirks, a Quirk with two aspects, they're basically the same thing."

As much as Inko wanted to refute her friend's statement, she knew better than to even try. Mitsuki could be incredibly stubborn when she wanted to be, and this was one topic that she'd refuse to budge on.

"Gotta say though, I'm a bit jealous," Mitsuki continued. "Fire and ice at once? And given who the girl's biological father is, I wouldn't be sure if your girl turns out to be a _damn_ powerful hero."

To that, Inko had absolutely no doubt. As a hero, Endeavor had definitely earned his number two spot. His mind and Quirk's strength was a head and shoulder above most heroes. As a husband and father, on the other hand…

She shook her head. There was a good reason why Todoroki Rei, Endeavor's wife, gave one of her beloved children away to keep her _away_ from the number two hero.

"My brat's still gonna be number one. Just sayin'," Mitsuki added with a playful smirk. "Don't care how good your girl's Quirk is, my brat's gonna be at the very top."

For the first time in a while, a competitive smile found its way onto Inko's face. "Are you sure about that?"

"Of fu - freaking course," Mitsuki scoffed, having momentarily paused to catch herself. There were a few kids in the store and quite a few studious teenagers, and no one would appreciate her loud profanities. "We don't even have to bet anything since the winner will get gloating rights in the end." She stuck out her hand. "Sound good?"

With a grin adorning her face, Inko grabbed her hand and shook. "Deal."

_**. . .**_

"This place looks like shit."

"It's a garbage dump, Kacchan. I'm sure that it looked really nice before."

"I don't care about what it used to look like before. I'm just saying it looks like shit now."

Izuki released a sigh as she listened to Katsuki's statement. While he wasn't exactly wrong, he could've said it in a way that had more…tact.

At the same time, she wasn't wrong either. Dagobah Municipal Beach was once a beautiful beach with clear waters and white, silk-like sand. Thousands of people would come on a daily basis during the summer season, and it was also a giant tourist attraction.

Well, according to the information she was able to find on the web, at least.

Now though, Dagobah beach was almost a landfill. Over the years, garbage and waste started to pile up from the sea, slowly accumulating as no one bothered cleaning it up. Trash littered every square inch of the once-white sand, and what was once clear waters were now murky with the rainbow-colored stains that you'd see from oil. Only a few spots were free of trash, but even then, it was still very small.

As it was, Izuki and Katsuki were standing in the middle of one such clearing that was no bigger than the size of their living rooms. Large shipping containers and other unwanted pieces of waste acted as a man-made wall, making it impossible to see the nearest streets of their town.

"How'd you even find this place, Izu?" Katsuki asked.

"I came across it by chance," she answered. "No one really comes by this place, so it's a perfect place for us to practice our Quirks!" A frown then marred her face. "Though you'll have to be a little careful because your Quirk is loud."

"Che, whatever." Katsuki raised a hand and sparks began to crackle in his palm. "Who cares about being quiet?! I'll just blast everyone out of my way!"

Another sigh escaped her lips. A year had passed since the two of them received their Quirks, and within that year, Katsuki had grown more arrogant. It wasn't too bad since Izuki was constantly reeling in his ego, but at the same time, it was, in a sense, deserved. His Quirk was strong and the sharpness of his mind rivalled it.

"Just try and keep it down a bit. We finally have a place for us to practice using our Quirks, so it'd be a waste if the police catch us," Izuki reasoned. "Want to start?"

At this, Katsuki's mouth split into a wide grin. "Hell yeah!"

Without waiting another second, he walked forward a few steps so that his Quirk wouldn't be anywhere close to Izuki. It was a sentiment that she appreciated. While Katsuki was definitely a quick learner and was able to get his control over his Quirk easily enough, there were still a few sporadic accidents and explosions that he didn't intend to let off.

As expected of Quirks though. It was one thing to have control over your Quirk, and it was another thing completely to master it. Mastery was something that only came with many years of experience, and that was something that neither of the two had.

Turning her body to be angled away from Katsuki, Izuki took in a slow and deep breath. In the past year of studying her Quirk, there were a few things that she learned aside from the fact that she was almost six-years-old. The first was that she was able to shoot out stronger flames with a bigger intake of oxygen. It confused her at first but quickly made sense. Oxygen feeds fire.

The second was that the more she used her flames - her right side, the higher her body temperature would get. Due to this, she'd have to repeatedly us her left side to cool down her body.

This normally wouldn't too difficult of a task since she could simply expel ice from the left side of her body, but that caused a layer of frost to form over her skin.

Once again, that in itself wasn't too bad, but her mother's words would always come to mind in Izuki's head. That night was also the first time that her mother looked scared. There were many times when she would look worried or anxious, but never _scared_, and so Izuki took her mother's words to heart and kept her ice a secret to almost everyone she met. The only others outside of her family that knew of her ice abilities were Katsuki and his mother, Mitsuki, and neither of the two were not the type to break a promise.

After releasing another bout of flames, she felt it. Despite the coolness of the weather, her body felt like it was burning inside, and she willed her left side to come to life.

_'Slowly. Carefully.'_

The cold spread throughout her body and trails of steam began to rise from her skin, which was then followed by rime.

_'Slower. More control.'_ She slowly exhaled as she focused more on her Quirk. Despite the cold spreading throughout her body, beads of sweat rolled down the sides of her head as she struggled with her Quirk's control._ 'Slowly…slowly…'_ The few bits of rime melted away from her skin, but the steam stubbornly continued to rise, much to her vexation.

"Haaa… Good enough, I suppose," she sighed. "If I can't get that down, then hopefully people will chalk up the steam to a mere side-effect of overusing my Quirk." She glanced over at Katsuki. He seemed to be having the time of his life as he blasted whatever he could find. "Must be nice, having a simple Quirk. Then again, his drawback is that he can hurt his own arms if he uses too much power with an explosion…"

Taking in a deep breath, Izuki stretched her arms and focused on regulating her breathing control. If she wanted to use her fire-half of her Quirk effectively, then she'd have to get used to the motions of monitoring her breaths.

_'Maybe I should ask Mom if she can enroll me in a dojo,'_ she thought to herself as a wave of fire rolled off her arm._ 'I read that they teach you breathing exercises so that the students don't run out of breath too quickly during a fight. Plus, a bunch of pro heroes know a form of martial arts to either assist them with their Quirk or as a backup plan if their Quirk can't be used.'_

After another few minutes of shooting flames, her body started to heat up once more. Ice started to spread across her body out of reflex and began cooling her down.

_'Maybe it'll help with my ice-Quirk control too…'_ she frowned.

_**. . .**_

In. Out. In. Out. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Inhale through the nose, exhale through his mouth.

His lungs felt as if they were on fire. Each breath he took only increased the pain, but that pain quickly faded as he exhaled, leaving behind a pleasant, cooling sensation in his body. And then it'd burn again as he took in another ragged breath.

Rapid footsteps echoed from the alleyway he was in, and he began running again. His legs screamed in protest, but he forced them to move, for it wouldn't just be his legs hurting if he was caught by the men chasing him.

As he ran, he came across a two-way split in the alleyway. He mentally flipped a coin in his head. The mental coin spun a few times before stopping.

_'Tails,' _he thought to himself. _'__Left it is then.'_

He took the left path, and upon seeing another corner a little ways down, he silently praised himself on taking the left path. That praise immediately turned into scorn when he turned said corner.

He had half a mind to curse his piss-poor luck. Of course the path he chose would end up in a dead end, and given how close the angry voices were from down the alley, he wouldn't be able to turn back and take the right path.

"Shit! A split!" One of the men shouted.

A bit of hope started to rise in his chest. With luck, his chasers would go down the opposite road and give him the opportunity to escape.

"I'll take the left, you two go right! If you find the brat, don't let him get away! It'll be on all our heads if he does," a second voice ordered.

"Got it!"

This time, he really did curse out loud, but he still kept it to a whisper. Even if he was going to be found, he might as well prolong it for as long as he could. Then again, there'd be no way that he'd be able to win against a grown man, not with his Quirk being so self-destructive.

With this in mind, he did the only thing that a child of his age would do in this situation.

He hid.

Thankfully, there was an abundance of garbage around him that he was able to hide in. At the same time, garbage was garbage, and the smell alone almost made him throw up what little he had in his stomach. But beggars couldn't be winners, and if he wanted to survive, he'd have to put up with the smell for now.

Once he was sufficiently beneath a large pile of waste, he moved aside a few bags and scraps so that he'd be able to peek into the alley.

And not a moment too soon as the man chasing him turned the corner and stopped. Dressed in jeans and a black tank top, the man looked quite intimidating with his muscular build and buzzcut. His fingers drummed the handle of a large knife that was strapped to his thigh.

A shiver ran down the young boy's spine as the cold metal glinted maliciously in the dim lighting of the alley.

"Tch, damn it," the man said with a click of his tongue. "This is gonna strain my damn eyes…"

The large man closed his eyes momentarily before opening them, and the boy sharply inhaled. The man's eyes, now glowing a dark blue, landed right on him, and a wicked smile rose on the man's face.

"Found ya, kid," the man sneered. "Too bad for you, but my Quirk gives me infrared vision, so I can see you hiding beneath that pile of shit."

He didn't move in hopes that the man was lying, which was quite the foolish decision. Even he didn't believe his own hopes.

"Oi. You either come out on your own or I drag you outta there, and trust me, I ain't gonna play nice," the man growled.

Resigning himself to his fate, he pushed himself out of the pile of garbage and rose to his feet.

"Smart kid." The man chuckled and walked forward until he was standing less than a foot away from the boy. The man's large hand suddenly grabbed the boy's head before he could react and lifted him off the ground. "Then again, not _that_ smart, if believing my word is anything to go by."

The boy began kicking and scratching whatever part of the man he could touch, but that only caused the man to growl and apply pressure onto his head, causing him to scream in pain.

"Stop strugglin', brat, else I'll make your death slow and so painful, making _this - _" He punched the boy in the stomach, _hard_, and all the air was forced out of his lungs. " - feel like nothing!"

Through the pain and the coughing fit he was currently in due to the punch, the boy managed to latch onto the hand holding his head. He didn't like using his Quirk because he always got hurt by it, but at the moment, the only thing that he thought about was getting the man to stop crushing his head, and his survival instincts kicked in.

So, with his small hands tightly grabbing onto the man's meaty ones, he released his Quirk.

There was a roar from inside his chest. Heat rushed out from the center of his body and to the tips of his fingers, and then a powerful flame came forth. His skin began to turn red and his hands were engulfed in a blue flame, burning both himself and the man.

Screaming in agony, the man quickly let go of him and took a couple of steps back, holding a now-burnt hand, but not before kicking the boy across the narrow space. He landed painfully against the cold ground.

There was a thick, metallic-tasting liquid in his mouth.

_'Blood,'_ he realized, spitting out a wad of the red liquid. He tried taking in a deep breath but winced as the action caused his ribs to flare in pain. _'It__ hurts to breathe…'_

"Fucking shit, my hand!"

The man glared at the boy and drew the large knife from his side. Before he could do anything else, however, something dropped down onto his face, throwing him back and onto the ground. Said 'something' turned out to be a young boy in khakis and a white hoodie.

"Woo! Perfect aim again!" Landing lightly onto his feet, the new guy looked at him with a lopsided grin. Unkempt, platinum colored hair framed his face from underneath his hood and his eyes were a rich gold in color. "You alright?"

The boy managed to give a small nod in return. His wrists and hands were bright red from his Quirk, but grit his teeth and forced the pain down. "Uh huh."

If possible, the smile on the hooded kid grew wider. "Great! Just hold on for a minute and we'll be out of here, okay?"

With that said, White (the boy decided to call him 'White' due to the color of his hoodie) turned around and faced the man, who was rising to his feet his fire in his eyes.

"That hurt, you little brat," the man growled, wiping away a trail of blood from his broken nose. "I'm gonna make you pay for that. Both of you."

"Yeesh, a little hard-headed there, aren't ya?" White grumbled. "Most guys that I dropkick from a top of a building tend to be knocked out."

Not bothering to reply, the man threw his knife at White, who ducked to avoid the blade that would've embedded itself in his skull. In that brief moment, however, the man rushed forward at an alarming speed and swung his leg, and White just barely managed to block it with his arms.

"Atatata, that's pain," White said, rubbing his arms. Ducking underneath another kick from the larger man, he reached into his pocket and threw… "POCKET SAND!"

The unexpected assault of sand caused a very slight delay in the man's reactions, and as such, he was unable to avoid getting hit in the face by the countless grains. His hands immediately went to his eyes and White scrambled.

"Your turn, Kūhaku!" White yelled.

There was a slight ripple in the air and a boy in a grey hoodie, most likely this 'Kūhaku' that White called for, appeared in the air above the man, who was still recovering from the sand attack. Kūhaku's leg was already raised when he appeared, which he savagely brought down right on the man's skull. The man's knees gave out and he fell onto the ground, and Kūhaku delivered another axe kick onto the man's already-broken nose.

When Kūhaku stood up and brought his leg back, the man was knocked out with blood all over his face.

"Right on time," White grinned.

Kūhaku looked over at White before flicking his eyes over onto the boy, who had not moved an inch ever since he was dropped by the man. There was a staring contest of sorts before Kūhaku simply nodded once.

"We should go. He won't be out for long," Kūhaku said, nudging the unconscious man with his foot. Without another word, he began running down the alley.

"Uwaahh~ Walking off on your own again?" White sighed before flashing the boy a bright grin. "That's Kūhaku. Doesn't speak a lot, but he's a pretty nice guy if you can get past all the seriousness of his."

He nodded. "I - I see…"

White suddenly stuck his hand out. "Name's Komadori Muko! What's yours?"

The boy was about to respond as he did the past nine years of life but then stopped.

_'I don't go by that name anymore,'_ he reminded himself. _'I'll need a different name now.'_

As if noticing his turmoil, White - rather, Komadori, folded his arms. "No name, huh? Or you don't want to use your old name?"

"Mm." He nodded in response.

A thoughtful look appeared on Komadori's face for a few seconds before his eyes lit up. Snapping his fingers, he brightly grinned at him.

"Then, why not 'Dabi'?" Komadori offered.

He raised an eyebrow. "Dabi?"

"Yeah! Your Quirk is fire related, right? And 'dabi' can mean 'cremate', or 'cremation', so I think it fits!"

"'Dabi'…" He quietly repeated. A small smile then rose to his face. "Yeah, I like it."

"Well then, let's do this again, shall we?" Komadori stuck his hand out once more. "Komadori Muko! Nice to meet you!"

With a smile that almost matched Komadori's, Dabi grabbed his hand. "I'm Dabi. Pleasure."

Komadori's grin grew even wider, if that was possible. "Welcome to the family!"

_**. . .**_

* * *

_**. . .**_

**Throwing a big wrench in Dabi's canon right here. Ha.  
I've some plans for Dabi and the 'family'. Hopefully, it turns out as well, or at least as half as good as I'm thinking it to be.**

**Thanks to all that read / followed / favorited / reviewed, and I'll see you all in the next chapter...which is probably in like...a month. Maybe two.**

**Life's a bitch.**


	3. Prelude 3

With every choice made in life, there was a chance for regret. Whether the choice was big or small, the regret heavy or light, the chance is always there.

For Izuki, the regret she was feeling now was nothing more than a little nudge in the back of her mind, but it was most definitely there as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom.

"Hmm…" The corners of her lips dipped down as she fiddled with a few strands of her red hair - hair that covered the entirety of her head in red without a speck of white to be seen.

"What's wrong, Izuki?" Her mother stepped into the bathroom. The red-stained towel that she once had was nowhere in sight. "Do you not like your hair?"

She shook her head. "No, I like it. Really, I do, but…" She released the hair she was fiddling with. "…It just feels…_looks_ strange."

"Well, we only _just_ dyed your hair red. It'll take a couple of weeks before the white starts to show again, so you can see if you still want to keep your hair dyed," Inko reasonably said.

Izuki shook her head again, causing her scarlet hair gently sway from the motion. "It's okay. I think I'll just keep it red. Some of the kids in my class asked me why my hair had two colors instead of just one. So, if I only have red hair, I won't be asked why."

Although she didn't see it as she was too focused on her hair, there was a flash of guilt in her mother's eyes for a second. That guilt was gone almost instantly however, and Izuki didn't see it as their eyes locked through the mirror.

"You look beautiful, Izuki," Inko said. "No matter your hair color, you will always be my beautiful little girl."

A smile graced Izuki's lips as she turned around and wrapped her arms around Inko's waist. "Thanks, mom."

"You're very much welcome," Inko replied. "Now, I believe you said that you're going to meet Katsuki soon?"

Izuki glanced at the clock across the room and her eyes widened. "Oh no! I was supposed to meet him fifteen minutes ago!" She ran into her room and picked up her phone from her desk. "He's going to be - "

"IZU! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

" - outside. He's going to be right outside our house…" Izuki finished with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

She quickly typed out a message to Katsuki that she'd be out soon and began to put on some clothes. After putting on a t-shirt and pants, she ran downstairs and towards the door. Slipping on a pair of sneakers, she opened the door and was greeted by Katsuki's regular scowl.

"About time - what the _fuck_ happened to your hair?" Katsuki asked, his eyes locked onto the top of her head.

"I dyed it," Izuki said as if it wasn't obvious enough.

As much as she wanted to ask him how it looked, she knew Katsuki well enough that he wouldn't give her a straight answer. She knew him just as well as he knew her, and she had no doubts that he knew the actual reason behind her dying her hair. Neither of them cared about the comments from the other children, but the rumors that would spread about her having the same hair color scheme as the youngest child of the famed Todoroki's would definitely raise questions. Questions that she did not have answers for.

"…You look stupid," Katsuki finally said.

Figuring that his comment was the equivalent of someone else saying that she looked good, Izuki decided to leave it at that. However, that bit of understanding didn't prevent the smile from rising to her lips, which earned her another odd look from Katsuki.

She shook her head at his questioning look. "It's nothing. Ready to go?"

"The hell do you think I've been waiting here for?" Katsuki retorted.

With a small smirk on her face, she lightly hit him on the shoulder as she began jogging down the street. They only had a couple of months before they had to go back to school, and another three more years before they could apply for Yuuei.

But that was that, and right now, Izuki had quite some time to hone her skills to apply for the prestigious school, and she had no plans on wasting it.

**_. . ._**

When Komadori Muko said the words, _"Welcome to the family!"_, Dabi didn't really put much thought into it at the time. In his defense, he had only just recently been kicked out of his old home at the time. Once again in his defense, he was kicked out because he was trying to help his youngest brother. Not that it mattered anymore.

That was almost four years ago. Within those four years, Dabi had been truly and honestly been welcomed into his new family, though it was a bit of a stretch to call it one. In his opinion, his new family was nothing more than a ragtag group of other orphans living in an old, abandoned orphanage (which was quite fitting), including Muko and Kūhaku.

Dabi considered himself to be an observant person. He wasn't a genius or anything, but his mind would always take notes of other people's actions and their habits. As such, within the first couple of days living in the orphanage, he was able to figure out the differing personalities and traits of the other orphans that he was living with. Despite their characteristics wildly differing from one another, from super lazy to hot-headed, everyone somehow got along.

"FUJIWARA, YOU PIECE OF SHIT! I SWEAR I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!"

…Mostly.

Dabi looked up from his book as a blue-haired girl burst into the main room of the orphanage. Her sharp, red eyes danced across the room before landing on Dabi.

"Oi, Blue!"

He lazily raised an eyebrow at her, mainly due to her nickname for him. The only thing that was blue about him was the color of his flames and maybe the color of his eyes, but that was a bit of a stretch. The girl had more blue in her hair than he had on his entire person.

"You seen Fujiwara around?" she growled.

"Can't say I have," Dabi casually replied. "Why not check the lower branches of that oak tree in the backyard? He likes to laze around there to either watch either the clouds or the people that walk by the streets."

With a quick nod, Kawakaze Fusou left through the door she just opened in search of Fujiwara Ibiki, slamming the door behind her.

From the other side of the room, a girl with maroon, shoulder-lengthed hair walked in with a plate of chocolate chip cookies in her hands. Her green eyes held a spark of amusement as she regarded the door that Fusou just stormed out of.

"Any idea what Ibiki did this time?" Haruna asked, setting the plate down.

"Nope."

"I hope Fusou doesn't do anything too dangerous," Haruna sighed as she took a seat. There was a hint of concern in her voice. "I don't think this building can afford to have another one of its walls broken down. It's barely standing as it is."

Dabi shrugged as he reached over to take one of the cookies. "Isn't that why Muko and Kūhaku are out right now?" He took a bite from the cookie. The pleasant _crunch_ was only outmatched by the taste, a taste that he savored. "They're not doing much this time either. Just a bit of scouting."

"That's true, but what they're doing is still dangerous," Haruna said. "I know that we're only dealing with small-time gangs, but things could still go wrong."

"Muko and Kūhaku extensively research their targets before doing anything. You worry too much. Besides, if they happen to get hurt, Kaza can heal them with his strange concoctions."

"I'd rather they not get hurt at all."

"They're fighters. Even with their Quirks, they're going to take some hits."

"And that's why I worry. It only takes on one unlucky hit and then…" Haruna trailed off, not wanting to finish her thought.

Dabi had nothing to counter that statement. He was in full agreement with it, after all, and he had a few close calls with said unlucky hits himself. Hell, the entire encounter on the night he met Muko was one entire lucky streak. Had the man decided to use his knife from the start, Muko and Kūhaku would've found a dead boy at the end of a random alley.

He idly brushed a finger at the ends of his left eyebrow. A thin, pale scar ran diagonally across it, not even an inch long. Haruna wouldn't stop fretting over how if the yakuza member had been a single step closer or swung his knife just a little lower, Dabi would've either been killed or lost an eye.

"Nothing we can really do about it until they come back," he finally said. "They've returned every time before, so I don't think today will be much different."

As if it was rehearsed, the air next to Haruna shimmered for a second before Kūhaku blinked into existence with his arm wrapped around Muko's shoulders. Not a second later, Kūhaku slumped forward and would've hit the ground if Muko had not caught him.

"Easy there," Muko lightheartedly laughed as he picked Kūhaku up. "Let's save the falling unconscious until _after_ I bring you to your room, yeah? I'd rather not carry your ass up the stairs."

Kūhaku simply stuck up his middle finger with a grunt, obviously too tired to voice a proper response. Haruna, on the other hand, was nowhere near tired and quickly got out of her seat to check for any injuries on Kūhaku.

"Oh hey, it's Haruna! And Dabi!" Muko brightly grinned. "Guess what! Kūhaku and I are back!"

"Clearly," Dabi said with a roll of his eyes.

"What happened?" Haruna asked, concern visibly etched on her soft features. "I thought this was just a scouting mission?"

"It was," Muko said. When faced with Haruna's glare, however, he quickly added, "It really was just a scouting thing."

"Then why is Kūhaku dead on his feet?"

Muko sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "A scouting mission that went bad?"

Evident by her glare, Haruna did not believe him. Dabi would never say it aloud, but he quite enjoyed seeing the unofficial leader of their group be cowed so easily.

"It's true!" Muko sputtered. "The 'bad' part is because of one guy who had a speed Quirk! We couldn't keep up with him normally so Kūhaku had to keep using his Quirk, which tired him out super fast!"

Haruna's glare softened slightly but didn't let up. "And you couldn't use your Quirk why?"

"I…didn't really understand it, so I couldn't do anything about it," Muko replied. "I told you, didn't I? I can only use my Quirk on things that I understand and know. And that guy's Quirk wasn't anything like muscle enhancements or some sort of propellant. No visible Quirk either like the Ida family."

"…" Haruna's glare lasted for a few more seconds before finally relenting and let out a sigh. "…Fine. I guess I can't fault you for that."

The tension in Muko's body visibly vanished after he heard Haruna's words.

"Well, if that's that, I'll be taking this guy up to his room!" Muko said with a grin. Without waiting for anyone to reply, he adjusted Kūhaku's limp arm around his shoulders before walking away. "Guh. Why are you so heavy? I know Haruna's cooking is really good, but you gotta stop eating so much. You're gonna get fat!"

Kūhaku gave him another grunt of annoyance before the two of them vanished in a flicker. There was a heavy _thud_ from the floor above Dabi and Haruna, and the _thud_ was followed by Muko's startled yelp. After a few more seconds, the floorboards creaked and light footsteps made their way across the ceiling, down a flight of steps, a hallway, and then Muko was once again back in the living room.

"Is he resting?" Haruna asked, taking her seat once again.

"Yup!" Muko nodded, pulling up a chair. "Given how many times he used his Quirk, I don't think he'll be getting up until…" He glanced over at a clock on one of the walls. "…I'd say around tomorrow morning?"

"That bad, huh?" Dabi muttered.

"The guy we were up against was _fast_," Muko grumbled, grabbing one of Haruna's cookies. His eyes quickly brightened as he looked at Dabi. "How's your training going?"

In response to his question, Dabi lazily raised one hand and activated his Quirk. His entire hand lit up in blue flames. Unlike the time back in the alley, his skin no longer burned, but it was still uncomfortably hot.

"It's fine as long as I don't up the temperature of my flames too much," Dabi explained. "Still hot though."

"Ooohh! That's a lot of progress!" Muko exclaimed, grabbing another - his seventh - cookie. How the guy ate so quickly without chewing or choking on his food was beyond Dabi. "What about the others? What happened in the weeks that Kūhaku and I were gone?"

Dabi extinguished his flames and shrugged. "Nothing much. We all just worked on our Quirks and physical training."

Frowning slightly at his lackluster explanation, Haruna took it upon herself to elaborate. "Fusou can take in more electricity without having to discharge, Ibik's lightning got stronger, and Kaza…" Haruna shook her head. "…Kaza's been locked up in his room most of the time, working on his 'alchemy'."

"I see, I see." Muko nodded. "What about you, Takao and Azuma?"

"Takao can generate more power when either pushing or pulling while Azuma's illusions don't look so fake now," Haruna said. "As for me, my barriers appear faster by a couple of milliseconds and are a little stronger. I think."

With another nod, Muko brought his hands together in a clapping motion, effectively brushing off the cookie crumbs from his fingers. "Okay! I think we're ready then!"

Raising a brow in slight interest, Dabi bookmarked his page and closed his book. "We're attacking? Already?"

"Yup!" Muko nodded and raised three fingers. "Three days from now, we make a move on the gang that Kūhaku and I were scouting, the…uhh…" His brow furrowed as he visibly struggled to remember the gang's name. He quickly gave up and dismissively waved a hand. "…Something-Something-Winds."

Dabi pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation due to his leader's absentmindedness. "You mean the Reverse Winds?"

"Yeah yeah, that!" Muko beamed. "It shouldn't be too difficult. The only one from the Something-Something-Winds group that we need to worry about is their leader, who, surprise surprise, can generate some strong winds. I think I know how it works, so I should be able to prevent him from using his Quirk."

"Sounds simple enough. Who's going?"

"Everyone."

Dabi couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. On the other side of the table, Haruna's jaw dropped.

"E-Everyone?" Haruna slowly asked, wondering if she misheard.

"Everyone," Muko firmly repeated. "The Reverse Winds might be small for a gang, but they still have some-sixty members. Granted, only a quarter of them could be labeled as a threat, but that doesn't change the fact that they have the numbers advantage."

As he listened to Muko talk, Dabi felt as if something was being left out. Having everyone go at once was a little bit of an overkill, even if they were outnumbered. He, Muko, Kūhaku, and Fusou had cleared out another small-time gang of around forty members half a year ago, and they didn't have too much of a problem.

"There's another reason why we're all going, isn't there?" Dabi asked, voicing his thoughts.

"Yup!" Muko brightly beamed. "Make sure to pack your stuff, because after we clear out the Something-Winds, we're taking over their base as our new base! And home!"

Silence permeated the entire room. When neither Dabi or Haruna made a sound, the smile on Muko's face dropped.

"Do…you guys _not_ want to move out?" Muko asked in confusion.

There was the clatter of a chair falling to the floor and a startled yelp from Muko as he was hug-tackled by Haruno. The plate of cookies fell to the floor, and Dabi silently mourned the loss of the delicious baked goods.

"Thank you!" Haruno's voice was muffled as she spoke into Muko's shoulder. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Muko was still for a moment before he awkwardly began to pat her back. "Uhh…I take it that you like the idea?"

Instead of verbally replying, Haruna opted to nod her head while keeping her face buried in his shirt. It was also at that moment that the door opened to reveal a slightly disheveled Fusou dragging a battered Ibiki behind her by the back of his shirt. Traces of lightning randomly sparked to life across her body, no doubt lingering effects from her scuffle with Ibiki, and she raised an eyebrow at the scene before her.

"The hell happened here?" Fusou asked.

"The plate of cookies dropped," Ibiki snarked, pointing at the shattered plate and cookies.

Fusou clobbered him over the head. "Not that, Sparky! I mean those two lovebirds over there!"

"Haruna is obviously hugging our leader," Ibiki said, earning himself another hit on the head.

"Leader here finally found a new place for us to live," Dabi said.

Just like before, silence fell over the room. The silence as only broken as Fusou's grip on Ibiki loosened, unceremoniously dropping him to the floor.

"Are you serious?" Fusou asked. When Dabi nodded, she threw her hands up in the air. "Holy fucking shit! It's about fucking time!"

"Yeesh, I didn't think you guys wanted to leave this place so badly," Muko grumbled from the floor. He didn't bother getting up, nor did he make an attempt to push Haruna off of him.

Fusou walked across the room and jabbed the immobile Muko on the forehead with her fingers. "Are you kidding me? This place is a shithole! I'm surprised that it stayed standing this long!" She then looked over at Dabi. "So where's the place?"

"Dunno." Dabi shrugged. "Kūhaku and Leader know where it is. All I know is that it's currently owned by the Reverse Winds, so we'll have to take them out before we get to live there."

The grin on Fusou's face turned feral. "Sounds great! Get to kick some ass and get a new house! Sign me the fuck up!"

"No need for that. We're all going in three days."

"Hell yes! That's even better!" She stood up and ran over to Ibiki, picking him up by the collar of his shirt once more. "Come on, Sparky! We're sparring again!"

"But we just did!" Ibiki whined as he was dragged across the halls. "I need to rest before I can generate lightning!"

"Don't care! We're sparring!"

Ibiki's protests continued to fall on deaf ears as he was pulled away and within seconds, he was too far away for his voice to be heard. Moments later, there was a pained yelp, and Muko chuckled from his spot on the floor.

"Poor guy. It sucks for him that his Quirk compliments Fusou's so well," Muko said.

"Doesn't help any that she's an absolute monster in close combat," Dabi added.

"Heh heh, I know, right?" Muko laughed. "Ridiculously fast natural reflexes and reaction speed that gets even faster with her Quirk… If only she was there during the scouting thing. She would've kicked the speedy guy's ass no problem, and Kūhaku wouldn't have overused his Quirk." He stretched out his limbs and yawned. "The floor's actually kinda comfy, now that I've been laying here for a bit."

"You also overused your Quirk?" Dabi asked.

"Mhmm. It's the main reason why Kūhaku and I don't have any injuries."

Dabi nodded and stood to his feet. "Get some rest. And take Haruna with you. She's been worrying about the two of you nonstop."

Muko yawned again and gave him a thumbs up. "Will do." His eyes then glanced down at Haruna, who was still laying on his body. "Once I find the strength to get up, at least. I'm feeling really lazy and tired."

With a roll of his eyes, Dabi began walking out of the room. "Save it for the bed. Rather, save it for when we get the new house."

"Wha - it's not like that! _We're_ not like that!" Muko sputtered as hints of red rose to his cheeks.

"Keep telling yourself that," Dabi smirked, leaving the room.

Stretching his arms, he began making his way towards the orphanage's door. He was feeling a little confined after staying indoors for the past couple of days, so he figured that a walk would do him some good.

The moment he stepped outside, he was almost blinded by the sunlight. It was around the hour that the sun was just low enough to be right in front of the orphanage's door, and coupled with the fact that he was indoors for two days, the brightness was painful.

He held a hand over his face for a few seconds, slowly spreading his fingers out to let his eyes adjust to the brightness. He stood still for around thirty seconds before his eyes finally adjusted, and he began his walk.

For a lack of a better term, the day was quite peaceful. Despite the orphanage being located in the outskirts of the city, the crime rate was lower than inside the city itself. Perhaps it was due to the fact that no one really bothered to come out here, but Dabi liked to think that it was due to the efforts of him and his family. They were essentially the kings of this section of the slums, so it was a pity that they would be leaving it soon.

Minutes passed by as Dabi continued to walk, and his surroundings gradually changed from old, rubble-filled streets to ones that were recently paved and clean. The buildings and houses became more modern, and the looks in people's eyes didn't have a hungry glint in them.

_'The city's nice,'_ Dabi thought as he slinked through the streets._ 'Gonna miss the old place, but living here won't be so bad.'_

He was broken out of his musings when a boy ran right into him as he turned a corner. He quickly regained his footing before he fell down.

"Watch where you're fucking going!" the boy growled at him.

Dabi raised a brow at the boy. He couldn't have been more than ten years old, but the harsh glare on his face was quite impressive given his age. He opened his mouth to respond, but before he was able to, the boy looked behind him.

"Izu! Hurry up!" he yelled.

"I'm coming!" a feminine voice called back.

Giving Dabi another glare, the boy clicked his tongue in annoyance before continuing to run down the street in a hurry.

"Cute kid," Dabi mumbled to himself.

He turned around to walk away before he had to stop lest he bumped into another child. She had fiery red hair that was tied into a ponytail and looked to be the same age as the angry-looking brat from earlier. What caught his attention, however, was her heterochromia eyes that he was sure he saw somewhere. Specifically, the color of her right eye, which was a bright turquoise.

The same color as his own eyes.

The same color as _that man's_.

His fingers curled inward as his clenched his fist. The strain caused his knuckles to turn white and his nails to dig into his palms, and his blood roared in his ears. Due to this, he almost - _almost _\- didn't hear the girl speak.

"I'm sorry for my friend!" she apologized, hastily bowing. "I'm sure he meant to apologize, but he just doesn't know how to express himself properly!"

Dabi found his body slowly relaxing. The girl's voice was soft and melodic, carrying none of the bitterness and hatred that he remembered hearing from _that man_.

He inwardly laughed at himself, having gotten riled up over the fact that a random girl that he never met before just happened to have a similar eye color. It was an uncommon color, especially for those with heterochromia, but it wasn't entirely unheard of.

Smoothening his features, he did his best to smile nicely at the girl.

"No harm done," he politely said. "He just caught me by surprise, that's all."

Upon hearing his words, the girl's features visibly brightened in a near-perfect image of innocence. She gave him another bow for some reason that Dabi didn't know before running after her friend. Once she vanished in the crowd, he slid his hands into his pockets and resumed his stroll.

When he was half a block down, his feet came to an abrupt halt as he came to a startling realization. A few people in the crowd threw him some glares alongside a few colorful words for his sudden stop, but he paid it no mind.

He _knew_ he saw the girl's eye colors from somewhere. Not just from his own reflection in the mirror nor from his memories of the shitty old man, but the heterochromia itself. The colors were reversed, but the only other person he saw that set of eyes on was on his youngest brother.

_'But how does that girl…? As far as I know, the shitty old man stopped trying for a kid after Shouto, so how…? Did the old man give up on Shouto like he did the others?'_ Dabi rested his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward on the bench he was sitting on. He didn't even know when he walked to a park to sit. _'The girl also looked to be a similar age to Shouto. A younger sister by one year perhaps?'_

Dabi didn't know how long he was sitting there on the bench, but given how the last streaks of light were vanishing over the horizon, it had to have been at least a couple of hours. With a sigh, he stood to his feet.

"Speculation is getting me nowhere," he grumbled to himself. "Either that girl is a younger sister of mine that I never knew existed or this is all just one giant coincidence."

He ran his fingers through his hair and began making his way back to the orphanage. There'd be time to speculate later…_after_ he and his family took down the Reverse Winds and established a new base for themselves. Once that was taken care of, it was only a matter of following Leader's plans.

Family stuck together, after all.

**_. . ._**

**_. . ._**

**Just gonna put this out now: Dabi's 'family' (Muko, Kūhaku, Haruna, etc) are all OC's. If you aren't a fan of OC's or just straight-up dislike OC's in general, this is your chance to back out.**

**They [the OC's] aren't going to drastically change the canonical events that occur in this story, but they will influence it one way or another. They've also got their own agenda that'll be revealed at a later date.**

**This is the end of the prologue / prelude to the actual story. Starting next chapter, the story will go into the actual canonical story, like the Sludge Villain encounter and whatnot.**

**Thank you all for the reads, follows, favorites, and reviews! I'll see you all...some time in the near future.**


	4. Yuuei 1

_[ Booting… ]_

_[ Startup complete. ]_

_[ Please insert identification. ]_

_[ … ]_

_[ Error - Identification not̷͖̭̐̑ ̶̤̀r̵̙̱͝ȇ̴̟̏c̵̢̔ö̵̺͉́g̷̭̬̍n̷͙̘̑̊i̵͚͐̊ - Access confirmed. ]_

_[ Loading…]_

_[ File: Quirk Users ]_

_[ Please pick a category: | Hero | Villain | Vigilante | Other | ]_

_[ | Other | confirmed. ]_

_[ … ]_

_[ Opening file: Blank ]  
_

_[ … ]_

_[ Alert: Potential Villain ] [ Clearance Level 4 required for further access. ]_

_[ … ]_

_[ Error - Clearance Leve̷̞͋l̸̋͜ ̸̺̓n̴͈̉o̴̡̽t̶̯̅ ̷̪̉g̶̹̍r̷͗ͅa̵̯̚n̵̛͜t̴̨͝ẹ̵͗d̴̢̓. - Access granted. Opening file. ]_

_[ Note: All information regarding 'Blank' has been recorded by All Might, Principle Nezu, the Commissioner-General, and the Chief of Police. ]_

_[ Name: Unknown ]  
[ Alias: Blank ]  
[ Affiliation: Faceless | Vigilante Group ]_

_[ Quirk: Unknown | Assumed to be a form of physical enhancement.  
__\- First-hand experience from multiple Heroes, All Might included, in attempting to subdue Blank has had him show signs of enhanced strength and speed.  
\- However, there have been reports that Blank may also be able to enhance his physical durability, having taken hits and showing no signs of damage. __See | Iwabuki Incident | and | Operation Waterfall | for further detail. __]_

_[ Characteristics:  
\- Male, standing at an estimated height of 180cm/5'11ft.  
\- No distinguished 'costume'. Always seen in civilian clothing.  
\- Always seen wearing a blank, full-faced mask, earning him his current name.  
\- Mask has two eye-holes in the shape of a wide V.  
\- Prefers to avoid fighting but is capable of defending himself. Knowledgeable in the martial arts and kendo (seen once during third encounter). ]_

_[ First Appearance: February 29th, Year XX12. || Location: Shinjuku District ]_

_[ Other notes:  
\- Blank has been reported to only attack Heroes when provoked. Multiple accounts have shown him to idly stand and talk with Heroes rather than engage in combat.  
\- Motives are unknown. Has been seen attacking both Heroes and Villains alike.  
\- Has rescued civilians and kept them out of harm's way on multiple occasions. ]_

_[ ! Alert !  
\- Every member of Blank's assumed group, all of whom wear similar masks, has proven themselves to be capable of fending off multiple Pro Heroes. Do not engage any of them alone.  
\- If spotted, call for backup immediately. ]_

_[ TRANSCRIPT END ]_

There was the _click_ of a button being pressed and the screen vanished. The room's lighting turned dim immediately with the only source of light coming from a dim lamp in one side of the room. A few seconds of silence passed before the lips of the lone man in the room curled up into a twisted smile.

_'Yes…'_ he thought to himself. _'This one is perfect.'_

He moved his arm and pressed a button on the console in front of him. A few seconds later, a voice answered through a speaker.

_"Sensei. I did not think I'd hear from you again so soon."_

"I would not have, but I stumbled across someone that could be very beneficial to us. I sent you his file."

There was a brief pause.

_"Ah, I am familiar with this man. He and his group have been gaining some infamy with their actions."_

"Good. That makes things that much easier," he said. "I want you to find him…and bring him to us."

_"Of course. It shall be done."_

Then the line clicked off, plunging the room into silence once more.

_**. . .**_

Izuki turned her notebook over to a new page. Her phone was resting beneath one of against her bag with a news article open on the screen. She tapped on the attached video on the article and the video recording from the events earlier in the day began to play, focusing on a masked figure.

_'Alias: Repulse (community given, not self-proclaimed). Quirk: unknown.' _She quickly jotted down the characteristics that she could make out on the vigilante in the video. _'Her name is most likely tied to her Quirk. Or maybe it's just telekinesis? Her Quirk seems to be tied to her body motions, like when she swings an arm or leg. For control? Possibly.'_

Around her, a bunch of the students began cheering out of nowhere and started to openly use their Quirks. One of the boys had his fingers harden and stretch out, hitting Izuki's desk in the process and causing her next pen stroke to go astray.

A tick of annoyance appeared on her forehead and she threw a glare over at the boy, who hadn't even noticed his little blunder. Figuring that there was no point in reprimanding him for such a small annoyance, she turned back to the video to further analyze the vigilante, Repulse, and her Quirk.

Two Pro Heroes, Death Arms and Gunhead, appeared and attempted to subdue Repulse to little effect. The vigilante was too nimble to be caught, evading every blow that was aimed at her. A few moments later, another figure dropped into the fight, having been off-screen earlier. He had a mask that was almost identical to Repulse, the only difference being the eye-holes, and he picked up a slab of concrete and threw it at the heroes. Then a third masked figure appeared, grabbed both the second masked figure and Repulse, then vanished into thin air.

Then a sudden _bang_ interrupted her thoughts followed by a familiar and arrogant voice.

"Oi, teach! Don't go lumping me with these extras! Most of them are nothing more than background characters, and aren't even worth being stepping stones for me!"

Izuki rolled her eyes as Katsuki leaned back in his chair with his legs propped onto the desk. Even though she could only see the back of his head, she could practically _feel_ the sneer that he most definitely had on his face.

The rest of the class, on the other hand, weren't so calm about Katsuki's words. Every one of them lost their temper and started yelling at him, either doing their best to insult him with petty words or attempting to defend themselves from not becoming 'extras'.

"Shut the fuck up! None of you have a chance of getting into Yuuei! That school is meant for the elites, which is something that none of you are!" Katsuki's sneer grew wider with every word. "Me, on the other hand, I'm the top! The best of the best! If anyone's getting into Yuuei, it's me!"

Izuki clicked her pen and began to write down a few more notes from the video. She managed to write down the first three letters of the word she started on before her attention was dragged away again when the teacher cleared his throat quite loudly.

"Ah, that's right, speaking of Yuuei…" The homeroom teacher looked down at the papers in his hand. After a second of reading, his eyes landed on Izuki, who raised an eyebrow at him. "Midoriya, you're also planning on going into Yuuei as well, right?"

The entire class fell silent at that, most likely wondering how Katsuki would react to someone else applying to Japan's most prestigious hero school. Seconds of complete silence passed by as Izuki casually continued to write in her notebook. When the silence started to become unbearable, Katsuki slammed his hand down onto his desk, causing many of the students to flinch at the sudden noise.

"You're damn right that Izuki is applying to Yuuei as well!" Katsuki roared as miniature explosions crackled in his palm. "Out of all of you shits, Izu is the only one that's capable of coming with me! She may not be the number one since that spot is obviously going to belong to me, but she can damn well sit in the number two spot!"

A small smile rose to her lips as she lightly shook her head.

_'Only you could manage to somehow be encouraging while also insulting someone,'_ Izuki laughed to herself.

Just as she finished that thought, the school bell rang, signaling the end of classes for the day - rather, the year. Most of the class was gone within seconds, all clamoring to leave behind the building that they dreaded for however long to come. Soon enough, it was only Izuki and Katsuki left in the room.

"Oi, Izu." Katsuki walked over to her desk with his bag slung over his shoulder. "Why didn't you speak up earlier when the teach called you out?"

Izuki gave him a light shrug as she packed her belongings. "Cause I knew you'd say something in my stead if I kept quiet," she said, getting up from her desk. "Besides, it's not like what they say will change anything in the long run, right? As long as we get into Yuuei, that's all that matters."

"…Tch." Katsuki clicked his tongue and started heading towards the door. "Whatever."

Noting that he didn't disagree with anything that she said, Izuki smiled and followed him out of the class.

They walked in comfortable silence as they left the school grounds, and continued to do so even as they walked through the town. When Katsuki took a left towards the city instead of walking in the direction of their home, she realized that there was something on her friend's mind. As much as he would deny it, Katsuki thought about things a lot more than he let on.

"What's wrong?" she asked him after another minute of walking in silence.

He threw her a glare, one that was half-hearted, before replying, "Do you have a brother?"

"Do I have - what?!" Izuki sputtered, not having expected that sort of question. "No, I don't. I'm pretty sure I don't. Why?"

"Endeavor's kid. He looks a lot like you."

"You mean Todoroki Shoto?"

"Who else, dumbass?"

Izuki ran her fingers through her hair. She kept to her decision on dyeing it red all those years ago, and while it was a little annoying to re-dye it now and then, it did help keep some unwanted attention off of her. While she originally did it to prevent her future schoolmates from asking why her hair had two colors, she never thought that the child of Endeavor would have the same bi-colored hair like her.

As far as she knew, the only ones that knew about her bi-colored hair were her mother and father (her father nearly had a heart attack when he first saw it), Katsuki, and Katsuki's mother. She doubted anyone of her old classmates even remembered since she wasn't the type to draw attention to herself.

"He's got the same hair as you aside from the colors being swapped, and if he's anything like you, he'll have both a fire and ice Quirk." Katsuki slowed his pace down just enough to walk beside her, though his glare-that-wasn't-a-glare-but-his-default-thinking-face remained forward. Specifically, it was aimed at the udon shop that was coming into view. "Don't even try to tell me that you haven't thought about it, not with that over-inflated brain of yours."

"…Yeah, I know. I've been thinking the same thing," Izuki sighed. "It's been on my mind for a long time now, but…"

"…But?"

She scratched the back of her head. "I don't know how to ask my mom about it, you know? It's not like I can just go up to her and ask, _"Hey, am I related to the Todoroki family by any chance?"_ I mean, I _can_, but…" She took in a deep breath before sighing. "I don't know."

Katsuki stared at her for a few more seconds before clicking his tongue. He pushed the udon shop's door with his foot and entered. "Tch, whatever. Not like it's my problem. You're still gonna be in second place no matter who you're related to."

Izuki rolled her eyes as she put her hand out to stop the door from slamming in her face. Figuring that Katsuki's words were the closest thing to encouragement that she'd get from him, she whispered, "Thanks, Kacchan."

"Ah? You say something?"

"You suck at encouraging people," she smirked.

He narrowed her eyes at her. "The hell are you talking about."

"Nothing nothing," Izuki laughed.

_**. . .**_

A shockwave tore through an empty street, blowing up dust and ripping apart the concrete. Old, worn down cars flew through the air before crashing back down, and a powerful wind blew through the area as an aftershock.

"Whew, that looked dangerous and painful."

A masked figure landed on the roof of a building as he watched the remaining airborne cars come back down to the earth. He was wearing khakis and a white hoodie with the hood pulled over his head, and a nondescript mask was placed over his face. The only distinguishable features on the mask were the two, wide V-shaped lines that acted as eye holes.

"Oi! That was a super dangerous move!" he yelled as another, much bigger figure landed on the same rooftop. "Weren't you just trying to subdue me, All Might? I got lucky that your shockwave sent me up here!"

"Cease, villain. You will not be able to escape this time," the Symbol of Peace responded, rising to his full height.

Even while doing nothing, the Symbol of Peace was an intimidating figure. Standing at a towering height of seven-foot-two and with a hulking body consisting of pure muscle, he made the average person look like some sort of lesser being. Even professional bodybuilders looked skinny in comparison.

"What the - really? Villain?" he sputtered in indignation. "Last time we met, I was just an outlaw-slash-vigilante! What caused the change into my status to being a villain?"

"Your attack against Gunhead and Death Arms with your ally earlier today deemed you as a villain," All Might answered, rearing his arm back. The action caused the muscles in his arms enlarge to the point that his head was smaller than his biceps. "You are quite the durable man, Blank, so forgive me if I use a little more force than usual."

Blank frantically waved his hands in a placating gesture. "Wait wait wait wait! I assure you that it was all in self-defense since they kept attacking me and my friends! And besides, can't we just talk this out? It worked out well the last couple times, didn't it? No one got hurt then!"

"It did not _"work out"_ for you managed to escape the past five times, Blank!"

"Didn't say it worked out well for _you_, All Might. From _my_ side, it worked out pretty well since I was able to run away without getting caught behind bars and whatnot," Blank said. He gestured at All Might with one hand while gesturing at himself with his other. "Two different perspectives, no?"

"Nevertheless, it is my job to bring you in. Even if you were not labeled a villain, you are still a vigilante for using your Quirk without a Provisional Hero License."

"Oh, come on! You have got to agree with me that needing a little card to help people is a ridiculous rule! If I see someone in danger and I could help them, that means I can't help them without getting punished for doing something good!" Blank countered.

"That is what heroes are for!"

Blank put his hands into his pockets, and although his mask was covering his entire face, it was clear that he was rolling his eyes. "Heroes can't be everywhere at every second of the day, All Might. There have been plenty of times that people were harmed due to accidents or villains before the heroes managed to arrive. Like that house fire from last week. I believe it was in Shibuya? Two dead, four put into the hospital?"

All Might grimaced as he recalled the incident. A gas leak caused a fire to spread across a few houses, and by the time the heroes arrived, it was too late for two civilians that were trapped in the flames. Blank took his moment of silence as confirmation to continue.

"Let's say that, during that time, there was someone in the crowd that had a Quirk that could've helped. But because that person didn't have a license, he or she may have just stood by and let the licensed heroes come." He shook his head. "Heroes are _reactionary_, All Might. They respond to situations, but they can never predict them. That's why I think that getting branded a vigilante just for using a Quirk with the intent to _help_ people is absurd. It's also why, in a way, heroes are always on the losing side of the battle, even if they are victorious in that instance."

There was a brief pause as All Might thought back to the notes on Blank. Even after an entire year and a half of having first met him, he remained an enigma to everyone. No one knew what Blank and his group wanted. The underground heroes could never trace them back to their base as one of their members had a warp-type Quirk, and the few villains that they captured were of no help either. So, what better way to finally find out what the man wanted than to ask the man himself? Reports did say that he preferred to talk, after all.

"What is your goal, Blank?" All Might asked, relaxing his posture but not his guard nor awareness.

"Mm? Quite the odd question to ask this late into our little relationship," Blank snarked, but there was no bite in his tone. It was as if he was merely speaking with an old friend, not the number one hero who was trying to subdue him. "If you must know, my _personal_ goal is to live an easy life. One where I can just relax, be lazy, and do nothing but listen to music all day. To be _free_, y'know?"

All Might waited for him to continue only to realize that Blank was done speaking after a few seconds had passed by. "…That's it?"

"That's it," Blank firmly repeated. "Quite a selfish reason, is it not?"

"And for such a reason, you'd go to great lengths to attack other heroes, villains, and cause chaos from your actions?"

"To be fair, they always attacked me first. I simply retaliated cause I'd rather not get hit by some angry freak. Self-defense and all. And besides…" Blank nonchalantly shrugged as he sat down on the edge of the building with his back facing the open air. "…I wouldn't really say I caused _chaos_. All my group and I did was rob a couple of banks and sneak into a high-security company that housed all the world's state of the art technology - " He paused and tilted his head a few degrees. "Okay, now that I said it all out loud, it does sound kinda bad."

"So you admit to your heinous deeds?"

"Of course not. Sounding kinda bad and actually being bad are two different things, Mister Number One. And besides, I made sure that the amount of money that I took from the bank wouldn't harm the populace, and the tech that I took was quite safe, might I add. Just things to improve the quality of life things at home. I did my research. In fact, most of the things I took were going to be scrapped anyway, so I technically helped them out by taking it off their hands and not having it go to the junkyard. I'd say I'm a good guy in that regard."

"If it is an easy and carefree life that you seek, then why not become a hero?" All Might asked, opting to ignore his last statement about being a "good guy". "With your intellect and skills, you could have made it far in the hero industry."

"Bleh, don't even try and persuade me to become a hero. Being a hero is, without a doubt, one of the most confining jobs in the world," Blank distastefully said.

That reply took All Might by surprise. During his career, he met many individuals and almost as many reasons as to why someone wanted or didn't want to become a hero, and Blank's response was definitely a first.

"Why do you say that? A hero's purpose is a noble one! It is justice!"

All Might was suddenly aware of the piercing stare that he was under from behind the white mask.

"…Is it? Don't get me wrong, All Might. You are the paragon of heroism: charismatic, selfless, strong… Helping people for the sake of helping people and defeating villains to simply keep society safe. All the money, glory and praise you receive as merely a bonus." Blank crossed his arms and took in a deep breath. "However, can you say that every other hero is in it for the same reasons as you? That every hero _isn't_ a hero for the fame, glory, and the pay that comes with it?"

As much as All Might wanted to refute his statements, he found that his voice would not come out. As much as he disliked it, Blank's words were _not_ wrong.

"Not to mention that being a hero means that you're confined to society's laws and rules," Blank continued. "You have a Quirk that's a part of who you are, of what defines you, and yet you can't freely express yourself. Doing so without a license means that you'll be branded a vigilante or a villain, and being a hero means that you can only use your Quirk in very certain situations. Even then, you must always keep it restrained to a certain degree so that you don't harm those nearby nor the environment.

"Now, once again, don't get me wrong here. I'm all for keeping people out of harm's reach and not blowing up the city every time a situation pops up. Doing so would interfere with my own goal of living a carefree life. But all in all, being a hero means that you're ultimately confined. You can't use your Quirk to its fullest potential, can only use it when necessary, and you're branded with a certain reputation that everyone expects you to uphold. Fail to uphold that once and people shun you. What's that if not being confined and restrained?"

"It is_ order_, not restraint!" All Might countered. "Without regulations, society would revert to how it was in the beginning when Quirks first manifested! Power being wielded with reckless abandon, the weak cowering in the shadows of the strong!"

"And that is not too different from how the world is today. Those with powerful and versatile Quirks become renowned heroes or notorious villains while those without are forgotten." Blank raised his left leg and rested it on his right knee. "But enough about me, what about you? How are you on time?"

All Might stiffened at the statement. There's no way that this villain in front of him knew about his limitations. Perhaps Blank was talking about something else.

"A hero always has enough time to take down villains," All Might said as he had done countless times before. It was almost a mantra at this point.

"That's not what I'm talking about, and we both know it," Blank scoffed. For the second time, there was a distinct feeling that he was rolling his eyes from behind that mask of his. "You can't do hero work for extended periods of time, right?"

The blood in All Might's veins ran cold. Only a handful of people knew of his situation, and the fact that an outsider knew of it was -

"Going by your silence and surprised expression, which isn't all that different from your usual expression, might I add, I'll take it that my assumption was correct," Blank said. "Honestly, if anyone took a look at your records, it would've been obvious enough. From the start of five years ago, your appearances in public have been decreasing bit by bit. You appeared often enough that the public generally wouldn't notice since it was such a gradual decrease, but if one just looks back on it, it's quite obvious.

"Then again, that could simply be due to your age. Are you perhaps coming in on your years, All Might? No one really knows how old you really are, now that I think about it. You've been a hero for many years, and you've got…uhh…" He gestured at his face. "…some aging lines on your face. No offense. You're still a super good-looking dude. Just saying. I mean, I don't swing that way, but I'm pretty sure you were quite the heartbreaker when you were younger.

"In any case, your handsome looks aren't my point of topic," Blank continued as he leaned back into the open air behind him. "If I calculated things correctly, the average time that you appear nowadays is just around three, three and a half hours? Just about? You've been chasing me for the better part of an hour and since you were up and about some time ago, I'd say that you're just almost up on your time limit, give or take some ten or so minutes. Maybe a little longer."

_'Truly, you are a frightening individual, Blank,'_ All Might silently praised. _'If only you used your insight and intelligence for good, you would've easily been one of the best heroes of all time.'_

"Well, not like any of that is my business." Blank suddenly stood to his feet, putting All Might on guard immediately. "I'm not sure what it is that happens to you when your time runs out, and while I am curious, I'm pretty sure that you're keeping it a secret for a reason. Who am I to intrude upon someone else's privacy and life? Besides, my ride's here, so I do believe that it is time for me to take my leave."

All Might raised an eyebrow as Blank placed one foot on the edge of the building while still facing him.

"Do you think that I'll let you get away?" All Might asked. He shifted his feet in preparation for a sprint. Although there was quite a gap between him and Blank, it was a distance that he'd be able to cross in a blink of an eye. "There are other heroes hidden around here and you have your back against the wall. You have nowhere to run!"

"Correction: I have _almost _nowhere to run," Blank said in a jovial tone. "Oh, and about your secret? I won't be telling anyone. It's yours to tell, after all, and besides, I'm pretty sure that it'll be released to the public sooner or later." He grabbed the edge of his hood with his fingers as he began to lean back over the building's edge. "It was a pleasant talk, All Might. If you ever want to have another, just send the word."

Then Blank jumped off the edge of the building. The action was so abrupt that All Might was shocked for a split-second before he kicked off the rooftop, but by then it was too late. It took him only a second to reach the edge of the building, but he wasn't fast enough. Blank was already falling, and by the time All Might looked down, the masked man was gone.

_**. . .**_

"You're insane. I hope you know that," he bit out.

"Oh, come on! It was fun! Admit it."

"Seeing you jump off a building with _All Might_ on your heels is not my definition of fun. What were you thinking, getting All Might's attention for the fifth time?"

"I was thinking that you were close enough to grab me mid-fall and teleport us back to our base. It worked out exactly as I thought it would."

"It almost didn't. I had to use my Quirk twice to get to you from across the street, and it was only because of my marker that we were able to escape all those Heroes."

"Still worked."

Kūhaku bit back a sigh as he glared at Muko, who had his ever-present shit-eating grin on his face. The mask that he wore earlier was now dangling from between his fingers at his side.

"I repeat: you're insane," Kūhaku deadpanned.

Muko nonchalantly shrugged as if he was called that many times before. Which he was.

"And _I _repeat: no man is truly sane nor normal. What one considers to be normal may very well be abnormal to another."

Biting back another sigh, Kūhaku rose to his feet after having collapsed due to the long-distance jump from halfway across the city. Even with Kaza's assistance in creating markers for him to jump to lessen the mental strain, the fatigue that hit Kūhaku after each long-distance jump would hit him like a truck.

At least he was fully conscious this time, unlike the past four years of either falling unconscious or _almost_ falling unconscious, to which he'd black out not a minute later.

"You got a message from an anonymous sender, by the way," Kūhaku said, changing the topic. "A group is looking for your assistance for a job."

"Ooh ooh! Sounds interesting! From who?"

"From an _anonymous_ sender," Kūhaku dully repeated. "Haruna put the letter in your office. Go check it out. I'm gonna get some sleep."

"Gotcha! Have a good night~" Muko waved as Kūhaku retreated into their new base of operations, courtesy of the late-Reverse Winds. "Or day, since the sun hasn't set yet!"

Kūhaku tiredly waved his hand over his shoulder as he made his way towards the second floor of the building. Not a moment after he took his first step off the stairs, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on their ends, and he saw a blue blur from the very edges of his peripherals rushing at him. On both instinct and reflex, he activated his Quirk and instantly moved a few feet in front of where he once stood to avoid the blue blur.

Not that it did him any good.

The moment he reappeared from using his Quirk, the blur changed direction, turning a full ninety-degrees in a fraction of a second, and Kūhaku found himself being clotheslined by one Kawakaze Fusou. He saw stars for a second, felt himself hitting the floor, and fingers wrapping around the front of his shirt.

"You're finally back, you bastard!" Fusou growled, tightly grabbing onto his collar and lifting his upper body up off the ground.

"Fusou…" His hand moved up and clutched the side of his head that had painfully hit the floor. "What is it."

"You're an ass, you know that? Running out on me after that night… You better take fucking responsibility!"

Kūhaku's brain came to a halt. A full five seconds later, his brain was able to form semi-coherent thoughts in his head once more. The only problem was that he had over a hundred of those thoughts running through his mind, and none of those would help him with his current situation.

"…What." he managed to choke out. He couldn't even form that one word into a question.

Tightening her grip on his shirt, Fusou pulled him closer to her to the point their noses were almost touching. Her bangs hung down over him, tickling his forehead, and her eyes literally sparked with crimson lightning from an inadvertent activation of her Quirk.

Kūhaku also happened to realize at that very moment that Fusou's irises were a very peculiar shade of red. Like the red beryl ring he saw at a jewelry shop some time ago when he was scouting the city.

"You…promised me…" Fusou hissed is a low voice, causing every single one of Kūhaku's survival instincts to tell him to _run_. "…You _promised._ And then you just left me!"

Never before in his life has Kūhaku wanted to use his Quirk more than now. It was extremely useful, giving him the ability to teleport at the mere cost of his stamina, but like almost every Quirk, there were drawbacks.

The first was that overuse of his Quirk could give him a brain hemorrhage if he continued to use it after the overwhelming fatigue he'd get.

The second was that anyone that was in physical contact with him would also be teleported. While not necessarily a drawback as it had its upsides, such as rescuing one idiotic Muko, it was most definitely a downside for him at this time. With Fusou having a firm grip on his shirt, she would be teleported alongside him if he were to use his Quirk, so he couldn't see a way for him to flee.

"What are you talking about?" Kūhaku asked, miraculously managing to keep his voice level.

"You promised that we'd spar, you asshole!" Fusou yelled, cracking her forehead onto his, causing him to see stars again. "The last time we fought was almost a year ago!"

Were it not for the severe pain that he was in, and the headache he was bound to get soon, Kūhaku would have pinched the bridge of his nose. He had zero doubts that Fusou purposefully misled him for her own amusement.

"You're the only one that can keep up with me when I start to get serious, so I was looking forward to fighting you again!" Fusou continued, paying no heed to the physical and mental pain that he was in. "Do you have any idea how I felt when you just up and vanished with Muko?! You fucking blue-balled me!"

"One, it was for the well-being of our group as a whole," Kūhaku groaned through the pain. "Two, you don't have balls. Three, that term is usually used for se-"

Fusou headbutted him again. If he didn't have a headache before, he definitely had one now.

"Same fucking difference!"

He raised an unamused brow at her, mainly due to the pain he was in. "So you're saying that you're feeling frustrated?"

Another headbutt. He didn't understand why he deserved that one.

_'Does this woman not feel any pain?!'_

"And if I am? In both ways?" she smirked.

For the second time in the span of three minutes, Kūhaku blanked out again.

_'Well, shit.'_

"No more words, huh?" Fusou's grin grew wider. Feral, almost. "Good. Now come on, we're going sparring!"

Kūhaku couldn't find it in him to tell her that he was already tired and wouldn't be a good partner. She would most likely hit him for saying it.

Then again, once she found out that he wasn't in top condition, she'd proceed to hit him anyway due to her own vexation.

_'This woman is going to be the death of me…'_

Unbeknownst to either of them, Dabi had seen the entire scene from around the corner. He also just happened to be at the perfect angle to snap a few photos of the compromising position that they were in only moments earlier.

They may be a family, but some blackmail opportunities were too good to pass up.

_**. . .**_

The smell hit her before anything else. Its stench pervaded her nose, almost making her throw up the udon from earlier, but she managed to hold her stomach. When the shadow appeared over Katsuki a second later, her body moved on its own, shoving him out of the shadow before she was swallowed by a thick sludge a second later.

"The fuck was that for - Izu!" Katsuki recovered from the sudden shove immediately. His eyes widened upon her struggling against the sludge that was attempting to swallow her whole.

The liquid was heavy, restraining her body and preventing her from moving her limbs. Her strength felt like it was being sapped with every second that passed, and her vision was blocked.

"Oh? What's this?" A voice crept into her ears, sending shivers down her spine. "You have a Quirk that controls both fire _and_ ice?" There was a rumble that shook her whole body, and it took Izuki a second that the sludge was laughing. "I can't believe I got so lucky! You make for the perfect host - "

"Get the fuck off her, you disgusting fuck!"

Izuki heard Katsuki's voice before hearing the familiar _boom_ of his Quirk. The explosion blew away some of the sludge that was on her face, and she took in a deep breath, having been deprived of air for a while. She barely got any oxygen before the sludge wrapped around her again, and she quickly closed her mouth. If the sludge tasted anything like how it smelled, she did _not_ want any of that to get into her mouth.

There was another explosion followed by a few more, and Katsuki was screaming again, but it all sounded muffled and far away.

"Fuck off! …Izu…your Quirk…dumbass!"

Her eyes widened. She was so focused on physically fighting the sludge that she forgot she could use her Quirk.

While there was a law prohibiting the use of Quirks without a license, there were a few exceptions. One such exception was when anyone would be under a direct threat of a villain attack, and this was most definitely a villain attack.

Izuki closed her eyes. After a second of concentration, she felt the familiar heat of her Quirk spread throughout the right half of her body. The heat's intensity grew by the second, and she could _feel_ the sludge burning away.

There was a loud scream and something shoved her forward. Fresh air hit her face, and even with her eyes closed, she knew that she was no longer trapped by that disgusting sludge. Unfortunately, the sudden ejection from the sludge threw her off balance, and she stumbled to the floor. She fully expected the pain from landing onto the ground, so she was surprised when she was caught mid-fall.

"You smell like shit, Izu."

Izuki spat out a glob of…_something_ that managed to get into her mouth. She'd be tasting rotten cheese and bile in her mouth for a long time. She opened her eyes and saw the familiar scarlet eyes that she'd come to know in the past fourteen years.

"Thanks, Kacchan," she said, standing on shaky legs.

No longer trapped by the disgusting, thick liquid, Izuki took a look at her attacker, which was a…blob. A literal blob was what looked to be sewer sludge with a mouth full of horribly misaligned and jagged teeth. As she watched, some of the sludge peeled away to reveal two giant eyes that landed directly on her.

"That hurt, girl," the sludge growled. Its chipped teeth made a _clack_ noise every time they hit against each other, and bits of its own body bubbled with each word. "I was going to make your death painless as I assimilated you, but now I'll - "

"DIE!"

The villain didn't have a chance to finish speaking as both Izuki and Katsuki attacked together, releasing a torrent of flames and a powerful explosion respectively. The combined force of their Quirks literally blew away the villain, splattering bits and pieces of sludge on the ground and tunnel walls.

"That's disgusting," Katsuki huffed, glaring at the villain, who was barely a third of his original size. In a way, it was a good thing that the villain was amorphous because Izuki was sure he'd be dead otherwise.

Exhaling deeply, she used her left side to regulate her body's temperature, despite the fact that her body temperature was still within reasonable levels. She looked down at her clothes, wincing at the fact everything was stained with sludge. Bits of muck dropped to the ground as she ran a hand through her hair. There was a sharp pain on her scalp as her fingers ran into multiple knots, and she dreaded the time she'd have to invest into untangling them.

"That was pretty fucking ballsy of you to attack us," Katsuki sneered, walking up to the villain. Although he was taunting the villain, his gait was measured and he didn't venture too close to the main body of sludge. "I don't know what the fuck you were thinking, attacking the future top two heroes, but - "

He was interrupted as one of the manhole covers burst open and a large man flew out; a man that Izuki, Katsuki, and the sludge villain recognized immediately. It was expected, really, for how could one forget how the number one hero looked like?

"Fear not, for I am - !"

All Might, the number one hero, froze at he took in the sight, and Izuki fully understood why. If she was chasing a villain through the sewers for who knows how long, only to come out and find the villain that she'd been chasing much smaller and incapacitated, by two junior-highschool students, no less, she'd be stunned as well.

It was at this time that Katsuki, with all of his brilliance and skill in speech, breathed out the very words that were in Izuki's mind.

"Holy shit… It's All Might…"

_**. . .**_

* * *

_**. . .**_

**The chapter lengths have been getting longer with each consecutive update. I'm pretty sure the growth will stop soon since I'm quite comfortable with my own personal quota of ~8k words.**

**And I hope that the shifts in perspectives aren't too jarring. I try and make it very clear on who's perspective it is within the first few lines, if not couple paragraphs. If it _is_ confusing despite that, I'll start adding the name of the current-perspective's character's name at the top of each perspective change.**

**I also realize that teleportation as a Quirk is pretty broken, which is why I added a hard limit to ****Kūhaku's Quirk. He won't be teleporting around all willy-nilly unless he wants to risk a brain hemorrhage.  
Speaking of his Quirk, if the teleport-to-a-marker sounds familiar, it's because I took the idea from _Naruto_. Specifically, the Hiraishin / Flying Thunder God Seal. Though, Kūhaku's Quirk clearly isn't nearly as powerful.**

**Anyhoo, I'll be signing off now.  
Thank you all very much for the follows, favorites, reviews, and even just the simple views!**


	5. Yuuei 2

**Hope everyone's been safe and not sick. Didn't mean for this chapter to take some-nine months to finish, but…a lot of things happened.**

**Enjoy!**

_**. . .**_

* * *

_**. . .**_

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"What."

"Which hand do you use when you wipe?"

"…What?"

"You know…wipe. Like after you take a dump."

"…The fuck kind of question is that…"

"A normal one."

"No, it isn't…"

"You're not answering my question~"

_**. . .**_

_*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*_

For the hundredth time in her life, Izuki cursed the existence of alarm clocks. Or the alarm app on her phone, in this case. Their sole purpose was to abruptly wake people up, and most of the time, it was at a time when people did _not_ want to wake up.

_*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*_

"Uuuggghhh…"

Izuki groaned and blindly flung her hand out to her bedside table to turn off her phone's alarm, but grasped nothing. She tried a few more times, just barely lifting her hand and patting down the table's surface, but ended up with the same result.

_*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*_

Then she remembered that she left her phone on her desk last night, not by her bed - a desk that was on the other side of the room and required her to get up.

_*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*_

_'Eh.'_ She mentally shrugged and stuffed her pillow over her ears. She shifted her body position to sink deeper into her mattress._ 'I can sleep through it.'_

"Izuki!" her mother called from downstairs. "Izuki, I can hear your alarm from the kitchen! You're going to be late for the entrance exam if you don't get up!"

And just like that, any drowsiness that Izuki had was gone. Her eyes shot open and she bolted out of her bed. She looked at her clock and paled when she saw that it was 7:39am. The entrance exam began at 8:00am on the dot. Yuuei was a thirty-minute walk away.

Midoriya Inko couldn't remember the last time that her daughter moved so quickly.

_**. . .**_

Fifteen minutes later, Izuki's mad sprint slowed to a walk as she neared Yuuei's golden gates. Despite there being only five minutes left, there were still over a dozen students trickling into the school grounds.

"Izu."

She looked up and saw Katsuki approaching her with his hands stuck in his pockets. A few of the rushing students took a single glance at his face before quickly turning away. It made sense, really, as his scowl seemed to have gotten deeper over the years.

"You're late," he grunted.

"Sorry. Woke up late," she apologetically said. "But I'm here now, aren't I?" she added with a weak grin.

Katsuki said nothing for a few seconds, opting to just stare at her as she steadied her breathing. Once her heartbeat slowed down, he turned around and began walking towards the gates.

"Hurry up. We better not be late because of you," he said over his shoulder.

Izuki quickly began following him and asked, "If you didn't want to be late, then why'd you wait for me?"

The only reaction she got back was a slight stiffening of his shoulders, and she counted that as a win for herself. A non-verbal Katsuki meant either one of two things: one, he had no retort, or two, he was furious enough to the point that he would restrain himself from speaking. And Katsuki was nowhere near angry even with his permanent scowl resting on his face.

The moment the two of them passed through the golden gates, they heard someone's voice from behind them. Izuki turned to see who was yelling and saw a girl with orange hair running down the street. She seemed to be struggling to run properly. She looked encumbered - only one arm was swinging with her running motions while the other was firmly set behind her. As the girl drew closer and closer, Izuki realized that she was dragging something along behind her, which explained her awkward movements.

Izuki quickly gauged the distance between the running girl and Yuuei's grounds. At her current speed, Izuki estimated that she'd get past the gates in the next fifteen seconds. A respectable time, really, when she's over-encumbered by something heavy behind her.

The only problem was the fact that Yuuei's gates began to close.

The orange-haired girl must've noticed this as well as she blanched and began to run faster. Even so, she didn't have enough time. Not at her current speed.

Izuki put herself in the girl's shoes. The chance to enter Yuuei's exam only came around once in people's lives unless a student was to transfer from a different hero school. But transfers were so rare that there was only a handful of them ever since the school's founding, so passing the entrance exam was the best bet to enter the prestigious school.

If she was late (which she already almost was) and the only reason why she couldn't take the exam was due to a few seconds of lateness, she'd never forgive herself.

Which was why Izuki found herself dropping her bag on the ground and running towards the girl. She ignored Katsuki's surprised "Izu!" from behind her as she bolted past the gates. As she neared the girl, she noticed that the "something" that she was dragging behind her was a person.

"Give me his other arm!" Izuki hastily said, extending her hand.

The girl's eyes widened for a moment before nodding. She shifted her hold on the corpse-like body and tossed one of the body's arms over. Izuki easily caught the flying appendage and threw it around her shoulders as the other girl did the same. With another person helping drag the body, their movement speed was increased greatly.

But that still wasn't enough. The gates were closing too quickly for them to reach it in time.

"Fucking shit!" Katsuki was suddenly in front of her and grabbed her free arm. "Unless you want to drop this piece of shit deadweight - " He momentarily glared at the body that Izuki and the other girl were carrying. " - then you better hold onto him!"

Izuki had less than a second to react before Katsuki jumped. There was a muffled explosion from beneath his feet, propelling them all forward and sending them flying through the air at a much faster speed than they were when on the ground. The orange-haired girl yelped in surprise from their sudden airborne movement.

"Izu! Flame jet!" Katsuki barked.

"On it!"

Heat rushed through her body, starting from the center of her chest to the tips of her fingers and feet, as Izuki activated her Quirk. A moment later, a focused burst of fire shot out of her right foot, giving them a tiny boost to their speed. It wasn't much, but they needed every last bit that they could get as everything they did still wasn't enough. The still-closing gap between the gates was too narrow and they were just too far away to reach it.

Just before the gates closed, however, the air in front of them shimmered. The next second, the ground was right in front of them, less than an arm's length away from her face. She reactively twisted her body in the air and landed on her shoulder, rolling to disperse the impact from the fall. Her elbows, shoulders, and hands scraped against the rough ground, tearing her skin.

With a pained groan, she pushed herself off the ground and came face to face with Yuuei's gates.

Closed.

She didn't make it. She failed.

"Damn it."

Izuki bit her lip and clenched her fists. She fought back the tears that threatened to form in her eyes. She wouldn't be able to take the entrance exam.

She failed.

There was a blur of movement from her side followed by a _thud_. She glanced up and saw Katsuki slam the unconscious person that she and the other girl were carrying earlier up against the gates. Only now, the person was awake and lazily staring at Katsuki.

"You fucker!" Katsuki growled, his fingers wrapping themselves around the person's collar. "This is _your_ fault!"

Now that she had the time to look, Izuki was able to make out the stranger's features. Messy black hair framed his face, falling down his shoulders, and she was able to make out blue eyes from behind the boy's bangs.

"_What's_ my fault?" the boy drawled in an incredibly bored and monotone voice. "If this is about you and that girl over there coming to help us, then I'd say the fault lies with you. Itsuka and I didn't ask for help."

A vein of anger formed on Katuski's forehead as his grip tightened around the boy's shirt.

"You ungrateful piece of shit!"

"Kyo, don't antagonize him," the orange-haired girl reprimanded. Itsuka, if the boy's words were anything to go by. "They went out of their way to help us."

"Help that we didn't need," Kyo grunted.

Katsuki slammed Kyo against the gate again. Before he could do anything else, however, a voice interrupted them from behind Izuki.

"Now now, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't resort to violence within my school grounds. I realize that the school term has yet to begin so the "No Violence" rule doesn't apply here, but nevertheless, it is quite uncouth."

Izuki turned around to see a walking white rodent-looking creature that came up to her waist. It wore a white dress shirt underneath a black vest, and there was a long scar over one eye.

She recognized the person immediately. There was only one Hero with those features, and the principal of the top hero school was not exactly an inconspicuous figure.

"P-Principle Nezu!" Itsuka stammered.

The principal smiled as he looked at Katsuki. "Bakugo-san, if you would please drop Zuikaku-san?"

Katsuki turned to glare at Kyo again. For a moment, Izuki was worried that he would disobey the principal's orders.

"Tch," Katsuki clicked his tongue and shoved Zuikaku away.

"Splendid!" Nezu brightly exclaimed.

Izuki frowned as she replayed Principal Nezu's words in her head. "Principal Nezu? What did you mean when you said that we were within your school…grounds…"

She trailed to a stop as she looked around her. Instead of seeing the streets outside, she was staring at the main entrance to Yuuei. From _inside the_ school gates.

"How did we get inside?" she whispered to nobody in particular.

"The use of Quirks in public without a Hero License or without permission from a Pro Hero is prohibited," Nezu conversationally said, bringing Izuki's heart to drop. He probably heard Katsuki's Quirk and saw her flames in their attempt to get in. "But at the same time, how could I ignore the selflessness that accompanied your actions? To do so would be the antithesis of being a hero."

Izuki stood frozen in place as her brain slowly registered the principal's words. If she was understanding this correctly, then…

"Hurry along now," Principal Nezu warmly smiled at them. "The entrance exam speech is about to start. I've already sent the staff a message to wait for the last four students that made it just in time to qualify for the exam."

Elation filled Izuki and she quickly bowed in gratitude.

"Thank you very much!" she exclaimed.

Turning around and grabbing Katsuki's hand, she began running towards the main building, ignoring Katsuki's indignant cries of being pulled by her.

_**. . .**_

An hour and a half later, she was standing in front of a life-sized replica of a worn down, urban city. Buildings that looked to be on their last legs filled the entire area in front of her, and while there weren't any skyscrapers (unless they were already broken), there were definitely towering structures here and there.

_'What kind of budget does Yuuei have?'_ Izuki wondered in awe. She knew that the school had a large budget due to them being the most prestigious hero school, but she never expected miniature cities _inside_ the school's property. _'This looks like a city straight out of a dystopian-world book.'_

She began to stretch her limbs as she waited for the 'Go' to start the physical part of the entrance exam. The written half wasn't too difficult, having only taken her forty minutes to complete from the hour of time given. Most of the questions focused on the theme of why she wanted to be a hero and what her dreams were.

There were a few questions that gave her pause and seemingly out of nowhere, such as the one that asked her, _'There are two boats sailing across the sea. Boat A has three-hundred innocent civilians on board and Boat B has two-hundred innocent civilians on board. Both ships have a bomb on them that's set to detonate in five minutes. What would you do?_

_'Conditions: (A) You're the only person with the skills to safely defuse the bombs. (B) You only have time to defuse ONE of the bombs. (C) The closest backup is ten minutes away. (D) In this hypothetical situation, you CANNOT use your Quirk nor can you receive any assistance from the civilians.'_

Izuki shook her head again as she thought about it. She didn't have the time to focus on that question when she still had the physical portion of the exam to complete. From what Present Mic said, the test was a time-attack to see how many robots she could defeat. Simple enough. She played more than her fair share of video games that had the same mechanic.

As she finished the last of her stretches, she spotted the orange-haired girl from earlier walking over to her.

"Hey," she greeted once she was close enough. "I never got the chance to thank you for earlier. You didn't have to come and help. Despite what Kyo said, we wouldn't have made it without you and your friend's help."

"No problem," Izuki said. "Sorry that Kacchan - er, Katsuki slammed your friend against the wall."

The girl light-heartedly laughed. "It's fine, it's fine. Kyo kind of asked for it by saying what he did. I mean, the two of you were almost disqualified from the exam. There was no need for either of you to come and help."

"I mean, you looked like you needed help," Izuki reasonably said. "By the way, why were you dragging him in the first place?"

"Kyo is…well…lazy," she exasperatedly sighed. "He's easily the laziest person that I know. I know for a _fact_ that he knew that today was the entrance exam, and he _still_ slept in; said that it was too bothersome to get out of bed." She scratched the side of her head. "Honestly, I'm lucky that all I had to do was drag him out of the house and to here. Usually, I'd have to pull him out of his bed."

Izuki didn't really know how to respond to that. While she was trying to figure out a response, the girl plopped a fist into her palm.

"Ah, that reminds me! We never introduced ourselves!" A bright grin formed on her face. "Kendo Itsuka! Nice to meet you!"

"Midoriya Izuki," Izuki said, returning the smile. "I look forward to - "

"Aaaand~ begin!" an exuberant voice suddenly boomed over the P.A. speakers, cutting off whatever Izuki was going to say.

Everyone looked around in confusion, Izuki included. A full two seconds passed before it clicked. The moment it did, she began sprinting towards the urban city gates. A quick glance to her left and right told her that a few other Yuuei-hopefuls, Itsuka included, had the same thought as her, and them running caused a reaction in everyone else. There was a thunderous roar and the ground began to shake as fifty people began to run at the same time.

"Midoriya-san!" Kendo called out. The grin was still on her face. "I'll see you at Yuuei!"

Before Izuki could reply, Kendo was lost in the rush of eager students.

_**. . .**_

A _boom_ shook the earth and the wall in front of Katsuki exploded in a cloud of dust and debris. From within the cloud, a three-legged, mechanical scorpion with an elongated neck stepped out. Its eye whirled onto Katsuki's position only to have its entire chassis blown apart.

"Another two-pointer," he scowled with steam rising from his palms. "This is too fucking easy."

He still felt the anger that overcame him hours ago, when he slammed Zuikaku against Yuuei's gates. If it wasn't for Zuikaku's lazy ass being dragged by that other girl, Izuki wouldn't have had the urge to go and help them. If it wasn't for her helping them, then she wouldn't have nearly missed the opportunity to take the entrance exam. And because Katsuki knew for a fact that Izuki wouldn't be able to make it back to the gates in time, he had to go and help so that she wouldn't miss her opportunity. Which she almost did.

Back at the moment, when the four of them were soaring through the air through the combined use of both his and Izuki's Quirk, Katsuki was more than ready to throw Izuki forward so that she would make it at his expense. He wouldn't have made it to the entrance exam, sure, but that wouldn't have stopped him from being the top hero. There were plenty of other ways to reach the top, and Yuuei was just the fastest and easiest way. A means to an end. He'd be able to become Number One from any school.

Izuki, on the other hand, didn't have the adaptability and the drive as he did. She'd be able to meet him at the pinnacle of heroes by attending a different school, yes, but it'd take her a lot more effort than it would at Yuuei. Not to mention that entering Yuuei, the very school that All Might graduated from, was a long time dream of hers.

Katsuki would be damned before he let anyone stop her from reaching her dream.

Then Zuikaku Kyo, this random shit stain that crawled up out of nowhere, nearly brought that dream of hers to a screeching halt, taking his spot at the top of his shitlist. As Katsuki approached the main reason as to why they all thought they didn't make it, he saw Izuki's face. The pained and heartbroken expression that she wore, as much as she tried to hide it, made him _furious_. It took everything he had to not blow Zuikaku to kingdom come.

But he didn't. Izuki wouldn't want him to.

That didn't stop him from slamming the fucker against Yuuei's gates. The bored tone that he nearly threw him over the edge, despite what Izuki would have wanted.

There was the sound of gravel crunching that brought him out of his musings, and he whirled around with his arm poised to strike…only to stop as he realized that it wasn't a robot. Though, he really wished it was as he now had to hold back on blowing up the person in front of him. The "person" being the same asshole that was now on the top of his shitlist.

Not even choosing to say a word, Katsuki turned around and began walking off to search for more targets. He figured that the person would wander off and leave him alone, but the footsteps that trailed behind him told him otherwise. They walked in silence for a bit before Katsuki turned around.

"The fuck do you want," he roughly asked in a tone that didn't sound like a question.

The person shrugged with his hands in his pockets. "Nothing."

"Then why are you following me."

Another shrug. "Cause you're my safest bet."

Katsuki raised an eyebrow and the person let out an exasperated sigh. He then took a step forward and held out a hand.

"Zuikaku Kyo. A pleasure."

Katsuki smacked the hand away. "What did you mean by being the '_safest bet'_?"

Zuikaku looked down at his hand that was hit for a second before meeting Katsuki's eyes. "Alright, not a pleasure then, Bakugo-san."

"Answer my question."

"Not gonna ask how I know your name?"

"The principal said both of our names back at the school's entrance, now hurry the fuck up and answer. I've shit to do."

There was another sigh from Zuikaku and he stuck his hand back into his pocket. "I mean exactly what I said: you're my safest bet."

Katsuki opened his mouth to speak when Zuikaku raised a hand to stop him.

"To _elaborate_ on what I said…" Zuikaku continued with a bored tone. "I'm just trying to get through this test with the least amount of effort possible. I'd like to just sit down and nap in one of the many buildings here, but I highly doubt that's the safest thing to do when there are robots that can bust through a wall in a second. Taking a nap in the streets isn't safe either since these robots like to attack on sight.

"Based on what I've seen so far, you're an aggressive yet efficient fighter. Easily one of the best fighters, if not the best, in this group. If I just follow you, you'll get rid of any robot that comes near us, leaving me to do absolutely nothing. Which also means that I get to finish this test with the least amount of effort as possible."

"So you plan on being a fucking leech."

"Of course not," Zuikaku said with a roll of his eyes. "Leeching would require me to gain EXP in return for being AFK. I'm not gaining any EXP, or these robot points, if I just let you do all the work. Think of me as that one random in the same instance as you, but I'm sitting at the corner of the map with the 'Away' icon over my character's head." He paused for a second and tilted his head to the side. "You…_do_ play MMORPGs, right? If not, I can translate the terms I just used into - "

"I know what you're talking about," Katsuki irritably said.

"Oh thank god. I really didn't want to say all of that again," Zuikaku said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Anyway, with that said, you do you, and I'll just follow along."

"Tch," Katsuki irritably clicked his tongue and began walking again. "Fine. Just don't get in my way."

"That's…the entire point of me staying behind you in the first place," Zuikaku snarked back in a deadpan tone.

Opting to not reply, Katuski continued on. More robots made an appearance, and true to his word, the Zuikaku bastard stayed back. Katsuki didn't mind. If he didn't want to earn any points and fail, then let him. It'd be some sort of compensation or karma for that stunt he pulled earlier.

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble. Debris began to fall from the buildings and the earth began to split beneath Katsuki's feet. A large shadow covered Katsuki and Zuikaku as something rose out of the ground to cover the sun.

"S'a big ass robot…" Zuikaku muttered.

Katsuki couldn't help but think that Zuikaku's words were an understatement. The two and three-pointers were considered big as they were the size of SUVs and trucks respectively. This new robot was on a completely different level, towering over all of the buildings in the faux city. Its joints creaked and groaned with every movement, which sounded as if someone was blasting the sound through Katsuki's ears through some giant speakers.

There was no doubt in his mind that this was the zero-pointer. Present Mic said that its sole purpose was to act as an obstacle. Defeating it would be of no benefit. Its size and hull would render most if not all attacks useless.

Not that that would stop him. Given how everyone was running away from the robot, it was presumed to be unstoppable. Unbeatable. It was even implied by Present Mic that they were indestructible since he referenced the Thomp enemies from the Super Mario franchise. From what little of those games that Katsuki played, the only way to kill a Thomp was to run into it while empowered by the Power Star, or Invincibility Star.

Katsuki didn't have a Power Star. That didn't matter. In his eyes, Yuuei had presented to him a challenge in the form of a seemingly unbeatable, giant robot.

And Katsuki was never one to run from a challenge.

_**. . .**_

"Above you!"

The moment those two words registered in Izuki's head, she leapt to the side as a chunk of debris crashed down onto the spot that she would have been had she continued running forward.

"Thank you, Kendo-san!" Izuki yelled over her shoulder.

"You can thank me when we're all out of here safely!" Kendo good-naturedly yelled back.

Giving her a nod, Izuki turned her focus back in front of her to avoid both the building chunks falling from the sky and the debris that had already built up on the road. The giant zero-pointer had caused havoc just from rising out of the ground, and every step from one of its metal, octopus-like legs shook the earth, threatening to throw her off balance.

Then there was a rumbling sound from the robot, echoing within itself, and the sheer volume of it caused Izuki to clutch her ears in pain. It sounded as if the zero-pointer was roaring, if something that was completely mechanical even _had_ vocal cords, and she began to see double.

The sound only lasted for a few seconds, but the ringing in her ears didn't go away. Everything sounded muffled and far away, almost as if she was underwater, and she blinked a few times in an attempt to fix her double vision. She didn't even realize that she had collapsed onto her knees, and a quick look around told her that she was not the only one in that position. Kendo was in a similar position, but her hands were a LOT bigger than normal, most likely her Quirk, and the girl slowly rose to her feet. She looked in Izuki's direction and her mouth moved, but no sound came out.

No. There _was_ sound coming out - she could feel the slight vibrations of her throat - but Izuki just couldn't hear it due to the current state of her ears.

"I can't hear you," Izuki said, or she hoped she said. At the same time, she pointed at herself, tapped her ear while shaking her head, then pointed at Kendo, in that order, hoping that she'd understand. Thankfully, Kendo understood, indicated by the quick nod she gave.

Pushing herself to her feet, she took a step forward. However, she was still disoriented and would have fallen once more had someone not caught her. She glanced over at the person who caught her, and the first thought that appeared in her mind was…

"Round…"

And round her helper's face was. It wasn't said in a derogatory manner or anything but more of an offhand comment. A simple observation. Nothing more, nothing less.

Luckily enough, it didn't seem like the girl heard her. Still, making a comment like that instead of thanking the person who helped her was still a little rude.

"Thank you," she said.

The girl that helped her looked away from the giant robot and at Izuki, a bright smile adorning her face. Her lips went through the motions of talking, but due to her still-ringing ears, Izuki couldn't hear her and quickly explained that she couldn't hear anything for now. The round-faced girl's mouth formed the shape that matched her head's shape before she nodded once.

They began running down the street again, ignoring the tremors that came at constant intervals. Izuki made sure to jump a little every time that the robot's legs would come down in order to not lose her balance from the earth shakes that would follow it.

And then one of the buildings crashed down in front of them, blocking their advance. The rubble was stacked in a steep manner, which would make it incredibly difficult to climb. Even if they did, the giant robot would catch up before they even got halfway up the building.

"Well, this sucks," Kendo grumbled, staring at the destroyed building.

Izuki's eyes widened as she tapped her ears. She didn't know when exactly her hearing returned. "I can hear again!"

"I'm happy for you, Midoriya-san, truly. But we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place right now!" Kendo exclaimed.

"What do we do?!" the round-faced girl frantically yelled.

Izuki looked around and mulled over all the information that she had available to her. The surrounding buildings didn't have any windows or doors to enter through, the wall of rubble would take too long to climb, and the giant robot was approaching quickly. She had her Quirk for fire and ice but didn't know anything about Round Face or Kendo.

She should probably solve that last one.

"What are your Quirks?" Izuki quickly asked. "I can shoot out flames from my hand."

"I can increase the size of my hands. My arm and grip strength increases as well," Kendo said, flexing her fingers.

"Um, I can make things float by touching them with my fingertips," Round Face said, staring wide-eyed at the zero-pointer. "But I get really queasy if I do it on myself or if I use it on really heavy things."

"Like that robot?" Kendo asked.

Round Face nodded. "Exactly like that robot."

"What about the rubble and building parts around us?" Izuki asked, pointing at the cement blocks scattered around the street.

"Umm…I can probably lift a few of them," Round Face replied with uncertainty in her voice.

A few seconds passed as Izuki created a plan in her head. During that time, the zero-pointer continued to get closer and closer, and both Round Face and Kendo were visibly on edge.

"I got it!" Izuki exclaimed. "I have a plan to take that thing down, but we're going to have to cooperate."

"We're listening," Kendo said and Round Face nodded in agreement.

_**. . .**_

In a dimly lit room of Yuuei's main building, a group of people were watching the Entrance Exam through multiple monitors. Aside from the lights coming from the screens, there was no other source of light in the room.

"Isn't this getting a little dangerous?" one woman openly asked. "These zero-pointers may not have their standard weaponry installed, but they can still crush someone very easily."

"They'll be fine. I have faith in those three that they'll finish this exam without too much trouble," Principal Nezu replied. He was standing right in front of the screens, intently watching each one of them. "What are some of your thoughts on this year's examinees?"

"The majority of them are average at best. Some are already showing the signs of a Pro, and I can count the number of examinees that have a lot of potential with my fingers."

"I agree. This year has a good balance of skill varieties as opposed to last year's."

"Quick thinking, resourcefulness, the heart to willingly aid others at the expense of losing out on villain points. These are all the traits of a hero."

"Don't forget combat prowess. Examinee Number 137, holding the highest number of villain points ever counted. In this short time alone, he has shown an incredible amount of situational awareness and has shown the signs of a sharp mind. He assesses any threat that he comes across and tackles it efficiently."

"But he chose to fight the zero-pointer instead of helping the others get to safety. That isn't very hero-like."

There was a chuckle from the other side of the room. "Au contraire. By choosing to fight the zero-pointer, he is distracting it by keeping its attention on him. The fight is being held far from the other students in order to keep them out of any collateral damage, and he is continuing to pull it further away. He reminds me of a certain exuberant hero that we all know, does he not?"

Principal Nezu hummed, nodding at the assessments.

"Even so, to think that he's taking on the zero-pointer by himself and _winning_. Are we sure he's a first-year?"

"The medical reports and date of birth match - "

"It was a rhetorical question, don't answer. Oh, and would you look at that. He actually beat it."

Up on the screen, one of the zero-pointers had collapsed onto its multiple legs. There was a giant hole in its head, almost as if someone had detonated a bomb from the inside and then wrenched the hole open even further.

"Deducing that the insides aren't as durable as the exterior is simple enough, but figuring out the 'How' in getting to the inside in this short amount of time is quite impressive. This year may just be the cream of the crop."

"Oh, would you look at that. Examinees 138, 057, and 277 on Monitor 9 have also taken down a zero-pointer. A fine show of teamwork. Their Quirks don't seem to be as combat-oriented as Examinee 137, yet they were able to take it down."

"Indeed - hmm…Examinee 138… Her flames remind me of someone," There was a small light as one of the heroes in the room took out their phone. They tapped their screen a few times and brought up the information page of the girl in question. "Midoriya Izuki, adopted child of Midoriya Hisashi and Midoriya Inko. Taken in on the eleventh of January, right on the day of her birth. Birth parents are…blacked out?"

Principal Nezu's grin was hidden from the other heroes as he was in the front of the group. "I'm afraid that information is classified. I'm sure you can understand the significance of keeping one's birth parents hidden."

Silence fell upon the room after that. The heroes watched as all of the examinees made their way to the entrance of the makeshift cities. Those that were injured were being tended to by Licensed Heroes with healing Quirks, such as Recovery Girl and Hibiscus, and those not injured were resting wherever they could.

"Now then!" Principal Nezu turned around with a large smile on his face. "Shall we start the grading process? There's a lot of promising students this year!"

There was a collective groan from all of the teachers in the room.

_**. . .**_

"Fuaaaahhhh~ The exam is finally over!"

Izuki's head landed on the table with a _thud_, nearly knocking over her drink. A few people turned to look towards the sudden sound before going back to whatever it was that they were doing in the first place.

Across the table, Katsuki let out a snort as he rested his chin on his fist. Personally, he didn't find the exam to be that difficult. The written half didn't take any longer than half an hour, and the physical portion was a joke. The point-robots were so fragile and their weaknesses so easy to exploit that using his Quirk felt like overkill.

_'That zero-pointer, on the other hand…'_

Katsuki grinned as he thought back on the giant octopus-squid-like robot. It moved faster than he expected something of that size to be capable of, and its armor was durable as well. A point-blank explosion from him only caused scorch marks on its plating, but that was honestly to be expected. That was the point of armor, after all. Armor that wouldn't protect something was pointless. The more exposed areas of it, however, weren't so tough and were easily blasted apart.

"We get our letters at the end of the week, right?" Izuki asked him, lifting her head just enough to talk clearly. "Our acceptance or refusal letters, that is."

"You worried?" Katsuki asked with a raised brow. "Are you serious?"

"Aha~" A sheepish grin appeared on her face. "I'm not _worried_, per se, but anxious. Nerves, I guess. You know, it's like when you take a test and you know you did good, but there's that feeling in the back of your mind going, _"But what if I didn't do good?"_ you know?"

Rolling his eyes, Katsuki looked around the cafe again. The majority of the customers were around his age, and given how most of them looked battered and exhausted, they must've taken the entrance exam as well.

On the other hand, he and Izuki were nowhere near as dirty or tired. Of course, the lazy shit from earlier didn't seem to do much either, but neither he nor Izuki were the types to just sit back and let the others do the work for them. With that being said…

"Oi, Izu. Take a look around you," he said.

Lifting her head off of the table, Izuki glanced around the cafe with a confused expression.

"You see how the ones that took the entrance exam look like shit?" he asked her. When she nodded, he continued, "They're the ones that got shit-faced by the exam robots and ran from the Zero. We wrecked shit _and_ took down a zero-pointer. You still think that you did worse than _them_?" He finished by jabbing his thumb at a group of tired-looking teenagers by one of the corner tables.

"Well, when you put it that way…" Izuki sheepishly grinned again and rubbed the back of her head. "Thanks, Kacchan."

"Hmph. Getting so worked up over such a small thing," Katsuki chided with a roll of his eyes.

"Not worrying isn't always good, you know," she said. "It helps at times. It's a part of being human, isn't it?"

Katsuki pinched the bridge of his brow. "Don't get all philosophical on me again."

"I wasn't getting philosophical. I'm just saying that worrying is a part of the human psyche. Everyone gets worried."

"I don't."

"Probably because you're too thick-headed to get worried," she grinned.

"Oi."

"Ah! A vein popped up on your forehead again!" Izuki beamed, pointing a finger at his face.

She continued to smile as if all was good in the world, and as if they were almost locked out of Yuuei's gates a few hours ago. Her mood was infectious, and Katsuki found himself almost smiling as well. And he most likely would have had one of the cafe workers not appeared beside their table.

"Excuse me, I hate to be a bother, but would you mind sharing your table with another pair of guests?" the waitress asked.

"Of course!" Izuki smiled, moving closer to the wall to make room. "I didn't realize that this was the only four-seater left in the cafe."

A quick glance around proved those words to be correct. The entire store was packed now as opposed to when they arrived. It was barely half-full then, and he didn't even realize that more people were entering the store.

"Thank you very much," the waitress said before walking away.

Izuki straightened her back and looked around the store again. "Uwahh~ It really is packed, isn't it? I honestly didn't notice that more and more people were coming in."

"That's because you spent most of our time here needlessly worrying about the exam results," Katsuki responded with a mildly irritated click of his tongue. "You were barely paying attention to anything else."

As if to further emphasize his point, he pointed at her iced tea. At least, the drink that was once iced tea. It was just really cold tea now with the exterior of the cup covered with condensation. It was still mostly full while Katsuki's cup was nearing empty.

"Was I really that gone?" Izuki asked no one in particular, scratching the back of her head. "But Kacchan, it was the entrance exam for _Yuuei_! How could I not have reacted!"

"Oooh! You're going to Yuuei?! Congratulations!" a new voice cheerfully exclaimed from the front of the table.

Katsuki looked up, frowning at the two people, both looking to be a few years older than him and Izuki, standing there. The first was in a white shirt underneath a navy-colored jacket with black pants. His black hair was similar in design to Katsuki's, if not a little longer, and hung over disinterested, turquoise eyes. The second was wearing a white hoodie and khakis and had short, snow-colored hair.

"Aah! Sorry, sorry!" the second one quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

From behind the two newcomers, the waitress from before walked forward.

"Dear customers," she said to Katsuki and Izuki. "Thank you again for being generous enough to share your table. These two gentlemen…" She gestured at the two next to her. "…shall be the ones sitting here."

White Hair awkwardly scratched his cheek. "Ah…What's with that manner of speech. It's so formal."

The waitress slowly turned to face White Hair with an unreadable expression. "We of Background Noise are to uphold the air and look of the store."

White Hair froze immediately as a bead of sweat visibly rolled down the side of his face. "I-I see. Terribly sorry. We'll uhh…we'll just get out of your way."

With a nod and a brisk bow, she walked away, and the stranger with black hair looked at Katsuki.

"Mind if we sit?" he asked in a tone that matched the look of his eyes.

"Go right ahead," Katsuki gruffly replied.

"Thanks."

Black Hair sat down next to Katsuki while White Hair took the seat next to Izuki.

"So you two are going to Yuuei this year?" White Hair asked with twinkling eyes.

"Well, that's not confirmed yet," Izuki replied. "I mean, we took the entrance exams earlier today and we'll be getting our acceptance or rejection letter later this week."

"You took the exam already?" White Hair appreciatively whistled. "I heard rumors of how difficult it is and that some test takers nearly die every year. Is that true? What was it like? Did you meet any Pros?"

"Mu," Black Hair sternly said, and White Hair's facial expression immediately turned apologetic.

"Ah, my bad," White Hair said. "You're probably under some sort of NDA, right? Same reason why there isn't any solid information on Yuuei's tests."

"N-No, it's fine," Izuki quickly said. "Did you ever apply to Yuuei before, uhh…"

White Hari's eyes suddenly widened as he plopped a fist into his hand. "Oh, that's right! We never introduced ourselves! Komadori Muko, nice to meet you!"

"Dabi," Black Hair simply said.

"I'm Midoriya Izuki," Izuki brightly smiled before pointing at Katsuki. "And he's Sparky Sparky Boom Man."

"Oi!" Katsuki barked, slamming his hand on the table while Izuki mischievously grinned.

"Nice to meet you, Sparky Sparky Boom Man-kun," Komadori smiled.

If looks could kill, White Hair would be dead at Katsuki's feet. Unfortunately for him, his Quirk was Explosion, not Death Glare, despite his wishes at times to have a Death Glare Quirk. The wish was quickly revoked a second later many times though. Explosions were cool.

"Ah, to answer your question, Midoriya-san, I never applied to Yuuei. Or any hero school, for that matter," Komadori continued. "While nice, the thought of being a Hero never interested me. Ah, no disrespect or any insult to the Heroes or aspiring heroes though. I don't really hate them or anything, but it's just not for me, you know?"

Which was understandable in Katsuki's eyes. Some people weren't cut out to be heroes, plain and simple.

"But maaaan, I'm super jealous of you two," Komadori sighed. "I bet you were able to see a bunch of Quirks up close, right? I wish I could've seen that. I love seeing Quirks and trying to figure out how they work."

Izuki's eyes immediately lit up. "Really?"

"Oh boy," Dabi groaned underneath his breath.

"Yup! Take Kamui Woods for example," Komadori energetically began. "Him being weak to flames and fire-based Quirks is obvious, but do you think he could produce wood that's fire resistant? Like wood from deciduous trees, like the Japanese Elm or Southern Magnolia. Or what if he sprayed his wooden arms with fire retardant sprays? Would that also extend to the wood that he creates or would that just stay on his arms alone?"

"Or Mount Lady! Do you think that if she gains better control of her Quirk, she'd be able to adjust her height for certain areas?" Izuki asked with the same amount of excitement as Komadori. "Or maybe she could shorten the time that it takes for her to grow, or maybe she could shrink in size to get into really small areas or be really hard to hit!"

"Yes! You get me!" Komadori hurrahed. He then tossed a smug look at Dabi. "See, I told you that I wouldn't be the only one that thinks about Quirks like this."

Dabi let out a tired sigh. "I never said you weren't. You're just overbearing when you rant. Which you do a lot."

"My dear friend, you fail to see the beauty in viewing Quirks in the same manner as I. And Midoriya-san, I should add," Komadori said in a teacher-like voice. "Understanding a Quirk and figuring out how it works is super-duper important, you know."

"Are you two researchers?" Izuki curiously asked.

"Not really." "Something like that."

Dabi and Komadori answered her question at the same time, causing her to make a confused expression.

"So which is it? A yes or a no?" Katsuki growled. "Don't give two fucking different answers to one question."

"Sensitive, aren't ya, Sparky Sparky Boom Man-san?" Komadori grinned with a shrug. "And what can I say? Both of us are correct. We're not _researchers_, per se, but I do love studying Quirks. Just seeing what you can do with the simplest of Quirks and seeing how far you can go is fascinating! Also, just knowing the ins and outs of your own Quirk is super helpful cause then you know how far you can push it. And maybe if you push it far enough, maybe it'll change!"

"Change?" Izuki asked, raising a brow. "I don't think Quirks can change, Komadori-san."

"Not that we know of," he replied. "I mean, Quirks change all the time, right? How often does a child have the same Quirk as their parent? Practically never, right? It's similar, but there's always a few small differences that make each Quirk unique. Which means that a child's Quirk is a slight mutation of their parents', right? So, in theory, Quirk mutation is possible through natural means!"

"But the Quirk researchers already tried that years ago," Izuki said.

Upon seeing her expression, Katsuki rolled his eyes as he drank the last of his watered-down iced tea. Her expression was the same one that she would make whenever she would talk about Pros and when she delved into Quirks, and while he did enjoy talking about it with her at times, it also meant that the conversation was going to be a long one.

"There were numerous tests done by scientists with volunteer Quirk users, some of those scientists being the leading experts on Quirk theory, to see if Quirks would change on their own," Izuki explained. "The volunteers went through multiple exercises to test their limits and see what else they could do. All that happened was that the volunteers discovered new things about their Quirks or new ways that they could utilize it."

"Yeah, I read all of those studies. It's true that their Quirks didn't mutate or change, but what if they didn't try everything?" Komadori countered. "All that the scientists disclosed was that the volunteers went through "strenuous tests", but we don't know how many or what exactly. The volunteers are also under an NDA as well, so their lips are sealed. There must be one or two variables that they didn't account for."

"Hmm…maybe." Izuki slowly nodded. "But at the same time, the tests were done by experts and people with decades of knowledge and experience. What could they have missed or not done?"

"That - " Komadori suddenly froze before putting a finger on his chin. "That's a good question. Chances are that they've already done most, if not all, of the tests that I can think of. Well, aside from that, what sort of Quirks did the other participants of the exam have? I'm super curious."

Izuki's eyes lit up again. She pulled out a pocket notebook and flipped it open to one of the latest pages that she filled out. Not a single space was wasted as sketches and her scribble-notes filled every part of the page.

"There were a lot of Quirks!" Izuki said, handing her notebook to him. "I jotted down some notes, descriptions, and some sketches of Quirks that I remembered. A lot of what I wrote is speculation though since I never got a chance to talk to anyone about their Quirks."

"Woaaahh, these are super detailed!" Komadori brightly said, pointing at a sketch of a person with two slightly-curved horns sticking out of her forehead. "What kind of mutation Quirk do you think this one is? You didn't write much about it."

"Oh, her? I only saw her for a few seconds as she ran by. I didn't see her use her horns for anything, but she was able to punch a hole in a wall," Izuki explained. "At first, I thought that they were some sort of animal horns, but I don't think there are any animals with red horns. Plus, her horns looked really smooth."

"Hmm, that's true," Komadori murmured. "But being able to punch through a wall means increased physical strength, which you already wrote down. And 'increased durability'?"

Izuki nodded as she mimed a punch. "If a normal person were to punch a wall as hard as they could, they'd fracture their knuckles or tear their skin at the very least. The horned girl I saw didn't look hurt or affected at all and continued the exam like no big deal."

"True true. Never really thought about it that way for people with increased strength. Then, going from that standpoint, should that also mean that those with speed Quirks also have heightened perception, right? If not, they'd have to have incredibly fast reflexes in order to not run straight into a wall."

"Exactly! In fact, there was someone that I'm sure was from the Iida family!"

It was obvious that Izuki and Komadori were in their own world. They flipped through her notebook, pointing at various Quirks and notes while bouncing ideas off of each other. Every now and then, Izuki would write something that she and Komadori discussed down in her notebook before continuing their conversation again.

"My bad about this," Dabi suddenly said to Katsuki.

"Ah?"

"I mean _that_." Dabi flicked his chin at the conversing duo. "Pretty sure you would've preferred to not talk with random people that intruded on your time with your friend."

Katsuki looked over at Izuki. Her mismatched eyes were practically shining as she exchanged information with Komadori. Her arm motions were swift and full of energy, and her smile was the brightest than he'd seen in a while. All in all, she was happy and was enjoying herself.

Who was he to deny her happiness?

"Like I care," Katsuki said.

Dabi's eyebrow moved upward ever so slightly. "…I see."

Given his tone, it was obvious that Dabi didn't believe him. Not that Katsuki really cared about being believed or not. A stranger was a stranger, and a stranger's opinion of him didn't matter to him.

The two of them remained silent as they watched the two Quirk enthusiasts continue their talk. A few minutes passed and Dabi ordered a drink, and a few more minutes later, the waitress returned with a tea kettle and a cup.

"Is she always like this?" Dabi suddenly asked.

Katsuki raised a brow at him. Why was he still talking? "No."

"Mostly?"

"No."

"Huh. Must be nice."

"…He talks to you a lot?"

"Yeah. I bounce ideas back at him every now and then."

"Same here."

The two of them fell into silence after that. Time trickled by as the two of them did nothing else but sit in their seats, simply content with watching their respective partners interact. It wasn't until Izuki's phone vibrated from a text that their talk was put on pause.

"Ah…" A sheepish look appeared on her face as she read her message. "Sorry, but I've gotta get going else I'm going to miss dinner," she said to Muko.

"Oh, no no no, I should be the one to apologize," Muko hastily replied. "I didn't think that it'd get this late."

Taking that as his queue to leave, Katsuki got out of his seat. As he began walking away from the table, he caught Dabi's eyes.

"See ya," Dabi said.

Katsuki grunted in response as he walked by. He didn't consider Dabi to be a friend. Far from it. Hell, he didn't even think of him as an acquaintance. However, there was the indisputable fact that they shared one similarity, and that was them both having a friend who was essentially a Quirk geek.

"It was a lot of fun, Muko-san!" Izuki said as she waved goodbye.

Muko gave a friendly smile. "Yeah! Same to you!"

Once they were out of the store, Izuki stretched her arms above her head as she let out a satisfied sigh. The sun was already setting as they walked down the street, and Izuki had a light spring to her step. It was a big contrast to how she was during their walk to the cafe hours ago, and he supposed that he should be thankful to Muko for that. Keywords: _'should be'_.

"That was fun! I didn't think that I'd meet someone like that at a random cafe! He had a _lot_ of good ideas!" Izuki beamed. Then she turned to him with a frown on her face. "Why don't you do that with me anymore?"

"Cause you stopped asking me," he bluntly replied.

"Eh?"

A dumbfounded look appeared on her face as she froze on the spot, causing her red hair to sway from the sudden stop. Her brows were raised slightly higher than normal and her mouth hung open a little.

When she remained frozen like that for over five seconds, Katsuki began to get worried.

"Oi, Izu." He walked forward and waved a hand in front of her face.

No reaction.

"Izu," he tried again as he leaned forward a little.

Just as before, there was no reaction.

Breathing out an irritated sigh, he reached up and flicked her forehead. The sudden sting brought life back into her body as Izuki yelped and brought a hand to her reddening forehead.

"Ow!" Izuki began rubbing the flicked spot and pouted at him. "What was that for?"

"Cause you weren't moving," he replied.

It was only then that he realized that their faces were inches apart. Izuki seemed to have realized it as well as a bit of pink rose to her cheeks and she took a step back, averting her gaze.

"A-Anyway, I didn't realize that I haven't talked with you like that in a while. And you didn't have to flick me that hard," she huffed.

Katsuki fought down the heat that was rising up his neck. He quickly turned around and began walking down the street once more, hiding any potential red on his face from her.

"I didn't. It was a light flick," he replied.

"You and I have very different definitions of 'light'."

"That sounds like a _'you'_ problem."

"Jerk."

_**. . .**_

Elsewhere, near the other side of town, Muko and Dabi were on their way back to their home when a playful smirk appeared on Muko's face.

"So, they were quite interesting," he said.

"They're not even in highschool yet, you pedophile," Dabi replied.

"Hey! I am not a pedo! And they're going to enter highschool in like…a few months? That means that they're fifteen or so!" Muko defensively yelled.

Dabi raised an unamused eyebrow. "Your point? They're still minors."

"My point is that they're not children. Ergo, I'm not a pedo since pedophiles aim for children," Muko huffed.

"Even if she's fifteen, that's still a large gap in your ages."

"I'm not interested in her that way! I'm just saying that they were interesting! You can be interested in someone while not being romantically or sexually interested in them!" Muko heatedly exclaimed. "And the age difference is still less than ten years."

At this, Dabi made a point to dramatically look around while pointing at Muko. "Yes, officer. This man over here," he said to no one in particular.

"I hate you," Muko grumbled. "There's a difference between a shouta and a shounen, a loli and a shoujo. I am attracted to neither."

"Uh-huh."

Muko clicked his tongue and stuck his hands into his pockets. "Screw you. Anyhow, back to what I was saying about the girl being interesting…" He looked at Dabi from the corner of his eyes. "Is she the one that you mentioned way back when? The one that you bumped into along with a loud-mouthed brat?"

It wasn't until they reached the next block that Dabi decided to answer him.

"…Maybe," he finally said.

"What do you mean, _'maybe'_?" Muko rolled his eyes. "Red hair and mismatched eyes? Far as I know, heterochromia is a rare enough trait alone, especially when one of her eyes' colors matches yours."

Dabi was silent for another few seconds. "Don't you have messages to respond to? Messages relating to the anonymous letters that we've been getting for the past few months? When are you going to meet them face to face anyway?"

It was painfully obvious that he was changing the subject, but Muko didn't seem to mind too much as he simply went along with it.

"Ugh, don't remind me. I didn't realize that they had eyes on us ever since the beginning," Muko said with an exasperated sigh. He pulled out his phone and opened his inbox. "Seriously, do we look like the type of people that would make good hitmen? Cause I think that's how they see us as."

"At least the pay's good."

"Yeah yeah, I know." He opened the latest message from an unnamed sender and narrowed his eyes. After he finished reading it, he deleted it from his inbox and put his phone back into his pocket. "You were saying about not meeting face to face? Wish granted."

Dabi raised an eyebrow again, this time in genuine interest, despite his look of apathy. "Really?"

"Yeah. Got an address and a date."

"…Sounds suspicious."

Muko nodded as they turned a corner. "I know. Which is why I'm not going to go alone."

"You have a plan?" Dabi asked.

"Not yet. But I'm sure I can think of one in time. The meeting time is in two weeks." He crossed his fingers and placed his hands behind his head. "But seriously, so many Quirks out on display… She cataloged some really interesting ones too."

"Did she?"

Muko nodded as he took some long steps. "Yup. One guy was basically that one short guy from the metal alchemist anime, which is an absolutely overpowered Quirk if you think about it, and I'm really curious as to what mutation Quirk the horned girl has. Increased physical abilities with horns…there aren't that many animals that have that."

"Maybe it's a dragon-type like that one dragon Pro Hero."

"…Maybe, maybe." Muko put a hand on his chin. "Maybe I can ask our business partners if they can get the roster of the examinees."

"You should ask them."

Up ahead, the building that they called home came into view. On the outside, it was a two-story apartment with a dozen studio homes, each one having belonged to a single person. It was a style in which many university students and office workers lived in, and the second floor was just that - rooms for the residents to sleep in.

The first floor, on the other hand…

"We're back!" Muko loudly exclaimed as he swung the door open.

What was once multiple apartment homes was now a single, vast room. The walls that once separated the now-gone rooms were taken down, and a few pillars were installed in order to support the ceiling and the second floor. A kitchen was in the far back next to the dining table. To the right was a box sofa with a fur carpet in front of a wide TV, which was currently seating Fusou and Ibiki, both of who were engrossed in a game of Smash Bros.

"Oh, our shit leader is back," Fusou said without even taking her eyes off the screen.

"Who are you calling a shit leader?!" Muko immediately yelled.

"You, who else?"

Even though her face was turned away, it was clear that she had a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Yo, Ibiki, hurry up and lose so that I can kick Fusou's ass!" Muko said, leaping over the sofa.

Almost as if he was waiting for it, Ibiki's character jumped off the stage and lost his final life, giving the victory to Fusou. Now that he wasn't playing anymore, he curled up into a ball in the corner of the couch and fell asleep.

"Bitch, please, you're just gonna get three-stocked," Fusou scoffed at Muko.

"Language!" Haruna scolded from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mother…" Fusou and Muko drawled in unison.

Unlike the 'shit leader' of the group, Dabi made sure to take off his shoes before strolling over the kitchen.

"Hey, perfect timing. Can you get the lettuce and wash it?" Haruna asked him.

Without a word, Dabi opened the fridge and took out a ball of lettuce.

"Ah, and the butter as well?" she added.

He took a bar of butter from the door compartment and closed the fridge. Tossing the butter to Haruna, he made his way over to the sink and turned on the faucet.

"I take it that you and Muko didn't eat yet?" Haruna asked.

"Nope."

Haruna hummed as she turned the knob for the stove. Feeble sparks came out but it failed to light, and she tried again. "What'd you do today? The two of you were - this stupid stove. Dabi, can you - ?"

Before she even finished her sentence, Dabi shot a weak flame at the stove, lighting it up immediately.

"This is why I said we should get rid of that old stove and get a new one," Dabi muttered. "An electric one."

"Thanks," she said as she placed a pan over the flame. "And we don't have the budget for that right now. Expenses are going to the other projects." She placed the butter on the pan and began spreading it around. "You didn't answer my question."

"Didn't do much really. Just finished the bounty that Muko was holding off for days and went to Background Noise."

"We met the two little kids that he ran into years ago there!" Muko yelled from the couch.

She hummed again and grabbed a cut of pork. "Did you?" she asked with an all too innocent smile.

Turning the faucet off, Dabi flicked his hands free of water. "Anything else you need help with?"

"Jeez. As boring as ever," Haruna exasperatedly sighed. "And can you get the bread out of the oven? It finished just before you returned and I haven't had the time to take it out."

Dabi looked over at Haruna with a blank expression. Then down at the stove. Then at the oven that was directly built into the stove, and finally back at Haruna.

"You're in front of the oven," he deadpanned.

Haruna looked down at the oven that was in front of her legs as well before shrugging. "Doesn't mean you can't open it."

Letting out a tired sigh, Dabi walked out of the kitchen. "Hey, lolicon. Your girlfriend needs help with the food," he called out.

Just as expected, Muko's head snapped back to glare at him. "I'm not a lolicon! I told you this already!"

"Then why'd you respond immediately if you don't associate yourself with that word?" he asked.

"'Cause you're the only one that would call me that!"

"Your girlfriend's waiting," Fusou cut in.

"Ah, shit. But the game…" Muko's eyes flicked back and forth between the TV screen and the kitchen, clearly torn between the two.

"You're really trying to figure out whether you should choose between a game or your girlfriend?" Fusou scoffed. Then, raising her voice, she yelled, "Oi, Haruna! Your lolicon boyfriend's a piece of shit!"

To which Haruna yelled back, "I know!"

"Shit fuck!" Muko tossed the controller aside and jumped over the couch. "Haruna, I'm coming!"

"We all know you do that inside her," Fusou said in a loud voice.

"F-Fusou!"

Haruna threw a compressed ball of dough at Fusou, her face flush with embarrassment. Fusou dodged the doughball without even looking while laughing all the while. She was still playing the game against an inactive Muko-character, taking Muko-character's last life.

"Oi, shitty leader! I won the game!" she yelled.

"That doesn't count!" Muko shot back. "I'm not even playing the game and we were both down to our last stocks!"

"The screen, _my_ victory screen, says otherwise!"

Calmly walking around the couch, Dabi picked up the second controller. "Mind if I play a game?"

"By all means," Fusou grinned, motioning for him to sit.

A quick spam of the 'A' button later, they were at the character selection screen.

"Where's the others?" he asked as he picked his character.

"Alchemist hasn't left his lab ever since breakfast. No idea where Joker is," she replied, calling Kaza and Azuma by their respective nicknames.

"Takao and Kūhaku?"

The map was picked and the game went to the loading screen, dramatically showing both of their characters up on the screen with blue and red backgrounds.

Rather than verbally replying to his question, Fusou tapped her heel on the ground a couple of times, and he got the message.

_"Three!"_ the game's announcer called out._ "Two!"_

"Go easy on me," Dabi said.

"Fuck off. I don't go easy on anyone."

_"Go!"_

Just as the game began, there was another scream from the kitchen accompanied by a few crashes.

"Why would you ever ask a girl something like that?!" Haruna screamed, her voice being a much higher pitch than normal.

"It's genuine curiosity - ow ow! Stop throwing things at me!" Muko was also screaming in a higher pitch. "Metal pans hurt when thrown - wait wait wait! Put those knives down - " He shrieked and there was a dull _thud_ as something embedded itself into a wall. "Don't throw knives, you crazy woman!"

"Don't ask a lady which hand she uses then! That's not something you just ask a lady!"

More clattering sounds came from the kitchen, and Fusou glanced at Dabi for a fraction of a second.

"Any idea what he's talking about?" she asked, fixing her eyes back on the game.

"He wants to know which hand you use to wipe your ass after taking a dump," Dabi answered.

"The fuck kind of question is that."

"Exactly what I said."

"Leader's fucking weird."

"That, he is."

This statement was further solidified when said leader suddenly made a sound that sounded like a dog that had its tail stepped on. A second later, he was sprinting across the room and to the stairway leading down to the basement.

"Kūhaku! Save me!" he frantically yelled as he ran down the stairs to the basement. "Haruna's going to kill me!"

Haruna didn't look like she was going to kill him at all. She was simply standing in the kitchen as she fried something in the frying pan, contrary to how she was a few seconds ago.

"Why the hell do we follow him," Fusou deadpanned.

The air suddenly shimmered next to them and Muko dropped face-first onto the ground with the grace of a drunken elephant.

"Traitor!" Muko yelled at the doorway. "How dare you throw your leader under the bus!"

Just as he was getting to his feet, a crystalline barrier surrounded him and lifted him up into the air. His face paled as a look of pure horror appeared on his face. The barrier began to slowly hover over towards Haruna, who was wearing a smile that was a little _too_ sweet.

"NOOOOO!" Muko shrieked as he futilely slammed on the barrier.

Dabi looked over at Fusou between his in-game lives with a tiny smirk on his face and answered her question.

"Because it's fun."

"True true," Fusou said with a shrug. "And watch this combo."

Less than ten seconds later, Dabi's in-game character was sent to stage borders and lost his final life.

_**. . .**_

A coffee cup was set down and Principle Nezu peered at the test paper in his hands. His eyes quickly looked over the short-response questions, resisting the urge to sigh as he read the examinee's answer. Specifically, he was reading the trick question that he put in.

"Quite the standard answer," he sighed, setting the paper aside and grabbing a new one. "They're always the same response."

The door to his office opened and a tall man with messy black hair walked in. In his hands were two folders, both of which he dropped onto Nezu's desk.

"I'm done," the man said. "This folder's the one with the papers that I've accepted. The others are the ones that I rejected."

Nezu eyed the folders. "Aizawa." He picked up the acceptance folder. "This is completely empty."

Aizawa, also known as the Pro Hero, Eraser Head, looked at the principle with a _no-shit_ expression on his face. The look was amplified from the bags under his eyes.

"I know," Aizawa grunted.

"You were handed nearly two-hundred written exams, and not a single one of them managed to score high enough to pass?" Nezu asked in disbelief. "This is a cumulative scoring with between both the written exam and the physical exam."

"I know," Aizawa repeated. His eyes flickered over to the growing stack of failed papers. "You're in a similar position as me."

The principle sighed and placed the empty folder down on his desk. "In terms of combat potential, there are a lot of students that show promise. A few are quite exceptional. As for the written part of the exam that delves into their psyche…"

Aizawa picked up the tests that Nezu set in the 'Accepted' section of his table.

"With the current bar set like this, we won't have enough students for this year," Nezu said. "What do you think, Aizawa? Do you think that we should lower the bar to let more students into our school?"

Aizawa was silent as his eyes scanned the papers in his hands.

"We have a grading system here for a reason," he finally answered. "If the examinees have enough points at the end of the exam, they pass. If they don't, then they fail."

"How like you to say something like that," Nezu wryly said. "Very well. I hope that the other teachers have better luck than we did with our tests."

With a nod, Aizawa turned to leave when he spotted a separate stack of papers on the desk. It was located right behind the failed test papers, and consisted of only a few tests.

"Ah, those." A small smile rose to Nezu's face as Aizawa picked up the tests.

"Why are these set aside from the rest?" Aizawa asked.

"Read through them and I'm sure you'll realize it for yourself."

Time trickled along as Aizawa read the short-response questions. It took him over three minutes to finally finish reading the first test and move onto the second. By the time he had gone through all of them, nearly fifteen minutes had passed, and Nezu's stack of failed tests grew even higher.

"I see," Aizawa slowly said.

"So you agree with my assessment?" Nezu asked him.

"What assessment. You didn't write anything on them," Aizawa replied.

"You know exactly why I set those aside."

Silence fell upon the room when Aizawa didn't reply. Instead, he placed the tests where they were originally before he walked out of the office, not saying a single word the entire time.

"I'm glad that you agree with me," Nezu smiled to himself, knowing full well that Aizawa wouldn't hear him.

Then he turned his attention back to the pile of ungraded papers and let out a sigh. Paperwork was going to be the cause of retirement for the world of heroes.

**_. . ._**

* * *

_**. . .**_

**Oooohhhh maaaaan. This was a pain in the ass to write out. Mainly due to two reasons, t****he first reason is Katsuki.**

**As I'm sure you're all aware, Katsuki is one angry, explosive, prideful, and arrogant teenager in the source material. However, that mainly stemmed from the fact that there wasn't anyone on his level when he was a kid. Izuku was Quirkless and his goons had some tiny ass wings and some weird stick fingers. Not exactly hero material. So it was obvious that he would become an arrogant ass without anyone there to keep him in check.  
**

**In ASHH, however, Izuki has a Quirk that can easily compete with his, so he has someone that's sharing the top seat with him, which, in theory, would rid him of most of his arrogance. The base character of Katsuki would remain the same (prideful, angry, explosive), but with Izuki there with him, I feel like those characteristics would be subdued. Not completely gone or anything as he can still get angry and retains the "holier-than-thou" attitude, but it'll take more to rile him up than a random pebble in the road.  
**

**So yeah, I literally struggled for months as I tried to figure out how to write out ASHH's Katsuki as compared to the canon-Katsuki. There's a good guideline that I (and many other writers, I'm sure) follow called P.E.P.S.I., which stands for:  
| Physical | How they look.  
| Emotional | How they emotionally react to certain situations.  
| Psychological | How they think.  
| Societal | How they fit in with those around them.  
| Interpersonal |Relations to characters and how they get along.**

**The | Physical | I left untouched for obvious reasons, but holy shit, I was changing around the E.P.S.I. parts again and again and again and again. **

**The same applied to Izuki since she has a strong Quirk from the start unlike Izuku, but she was a bit easier to get down. I just got Izuku's character and took out most of his lack of self-confidence since _that_ was stemmed from him not having a Quirk. So the hero-nature and Quirk-analysis part of the character is all still there.**

**Reason Two as to why I struggled with this chapter is because the previous chapter was released at the start of the Villain Arc of the manga. And all of them got _buffed_ to hell, which fucked with the later chapter ideas that I already had planned out.**

**So I had one of two choices:  
****1) Continue on as normal and disregard the insane power increase that the League of Villains received.  
2) ****Integrate the power buffs that they received into the story at the cost of changing up a lot of the later ideas as this story is still in its early stages.**

**So yeah, this chapter was difficult to write, though a lot of it was due to the rewrite of Katsuki's character. ****In any case, most of the world and character building for the main cast is done. I can finally get started on the actual first arc (first day of school - USJ) and not on other things. And also get to introducing the Todoroki family. I've been putting them on the backburner for a while, but I promise that a meeting between Izuki and the Todos will be coming.**

**Thank you all for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing!  
Speaking of reviews || animegirl1570: I'm not sure as to what you mean by "gatcha series". It would be appreciated if you could expand upon that.**


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